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Character analysis

Ellen Rosen

in Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Ellen Rosen is Annemarie Johansen's Jewish best friend, and her danger fuels the novel's main moral dilemma. At ten years old, with dark hair, she is passionately devoted to acting—a love that shows itself early on as she and Annemarie practice fairy-tale roles on their street in Copenhagen. However, her role changes drastically the night the Nazis come to arrest her family: she hides in the Johansen apartment, sharing Annemarie's bed and pretending to be a third daughter of the Johansens. When a German soldier shines a lamp on her dark hair and demands an explanation, Papa calmly presents old photographs of Lise as a baby, diffusing the tension. In this moment, Ellen is terrified but remains silent, fully trusting the Johansens—a scene that highlights both her vulnerability and quiet bravery.

Ellen's journey revolves around displacement and survival rather than taking action. She is separated from her parents and sheltered at Uncle Henrik's farmhouse, all under the guise of a fictional "funeral." Eventually, she and her family are smuggled across the sound to Sweden. Throughout her ordeal, she remains warm and emotionally open, balancing Annemarie's more introspective courage. Her love of storytelling reflects the novel's use of fairy-tale elements to cope with historical horrors. By the end, Ellen is safe but gone—her bittersweet departure to Sweden leaves Annemarie with only the Star of David necklace as a symbol of their friendship and a promise that one day the war will come to an end.

About this character

Form
Novel
Author
Lois Lowry
First published
1989

The person01–03

01·Who they are

Who is Ellen Rosen?

Ellen Rosen is a ten-year-old Jewish girl living in Nazi-occupied Copenhagen, introduced in the novel's opening pages as Annemarie Johansen's closest friend. Physically, her dark hair becomes her most dangerous feature—a visible marker of Jewish identity in a world where soldiers carry lamps and ask questions in the dark. Lowry establishes Ellen through her personality: she is theatrical, warm, and imaginative, rehearsing fairy-tale roles with Annemarie on the streets of Copenhagen before the war's grip tightens around them. This love of storytelling and performance positions Ellen as someone who understands how narrative and pretense can reshape reality—a skill she will need to survive.

Ellen represents the novel's moral centre of gravity. She does not drive the plot through her own agency; rather, the plot coalesces around her vulnerability. Every significant decision made by the Johansen family—the lies told to soldiers, the journey to Henrik's farmhouse, the desperate midnight run through the woods—exists because Ellen's life is at stake.

02·Arc & motivation

What is Ellen Rosen's arc and motivation?

Ellen's arc is defined by displacement rather than transformation. She does not change so much as endure, moving from the relative safety of her Copenhagen apartment to the borrowed identity of a Johansen daughter, then to the staged mourning of a fictional funeral at Uncle Henrik's farmhouse, and finally to a boat crossing the sound to Sweden. At each stage she surrenders something: her home, her name, her parents' immediate presence, and ultimately her country.

Her primary motivation is survival, but survival bound to loyalty. Ellen does not flee alone; the entire shape of her escape is structured around staying connected to those she loves—her parents, the Rosens, and the Johansens who have absorbed her into their family. Her emotional openness and willingness to trust completely is both her vulnerability and her quiet strength.

03·Key moments

What are Ellen Rosen's key moments?

The night raid (Chapter 5) is the novel's most dramatically concentrated scene involving Ellen. When German soldiers pound on the Johansens' door in the early hours, Ellen shares Annemarie's bed and must instantly become a third Johansen daughter. Her dark hair betrays the pretense; a soldier shines his lamp directly at her. Ellen is frozen with terror, but she remains silent and still—a controlled performance that belies her fear. Papa's production of infant photographs of the deceased Lise dissolves the threat, but the scene turns on Ellen's own disciplined composure. Her actor's instinct to hold the role under pressure saves her as much as Papa's quick thinking does.

Separation from her parents across the farmhouse chapters heightens the emotional stakes of her displacement. The reunion with Mr. Rosen at Henrik's boat is the scene that pays off this sustained anxiety and represents the only moment of uncomplicated relief Ellen is permitted before leaving Denmark entirely.

The necklace and departure close Ellen's presence in the novel. She leaves her Star of David with Annemarie—an object that later becomes the target of Annemarie's courage when she sprints through the woods to deliver the crucial packet. The necklace transforms from a personal keepsake into a symbol of the friendship's permanence and the promise that Ellen's absence is not abandonment but survival.

The cast04–05

04·Relationships

What are Ellen Rosen's most important relationships?

Ellen's relationship with Annemarie is the emotional spine of the novel, a friendship so close that Annemarie's family extends its own identity—and legal risk—to cover her. Annemarie's midnight sprint through the woods is entirely motivated by love for Ellen; it is the concrete action that Ellen, the passive subject of rescue, cannot perform for herself.

Papa Johansen is Ellen's most immediate protector in the novel's tensest scene. His calm authority during the soldiers' inspection—and his willingness to invoke Lise's memory as a shield—demonstrates that protecting Ellen requires both moral courage and the capacity for strategic deception.

Mama Johansen functions as a surrogate mother throughout the escape, sustaining the deception and enduring a painful fall on the dark path to the boat rather than abandon her mission. Her sacrifice highlights the adult cost of the rescue operation Ellen cannot fully comprehend.

Ellen's relationship with her own parents—particularly the scene of Mr. Rosen's reunion at the boat—underscores that her ordeal is not only about physical danger but about the unbearable weight of family separation under persecution.

05·Connected characters

How is Ellen Rosen connected to the other characters?

Annemarie Johansen

Ellen's best friend and protector. Annemarie shares her bed—and her family's identity—with Ellen during the Nazi night raid, and later sprints through the dark woods to deliver the crucial packet to Uncle Henrik's boat, an act of bravery done entirely for Ellen's sake. Their friendship is the emotional spine of the novel.

Mama Johansen

Mama shelters Ellen without hesitation, treating her as a surrogate daughter. She helps maintain the deception during the soldiers' nighttime visit and later escorts Ellen and her parents to Henrik's boat, suffering a fall on the dark path but pressing on—embodying the adult sacrifice that makes the children's escape possible.

Papa Johansen

Papa's quick thinking during the soldiers' inspection—producing infant photographs of Lise to explain Ellen's dark hair—saves Ellen's life. He is a calm, authoritative protector whose courage in that scene demonstrates the moral cost and necessity of deception under occupation.

Mr. Rosen

Ellen's father, whose imminent arrest sets the plot in motion. His separation from Ellen during the escape heightens her fear; their reunion at Henrik's boat is the emotional payoff of the rescue operation.

Mrs. Rosen

Ellen's mother, equally endangered and equally dependent on the Johansens' network. Mrs. Rosen's quiet dignity under threat mirrors Ellen's own restrained courage throughout the ordeal.

Uncle Henrik

Henrik's farmhouse and fishing boat are the physical means of Ellen's salvation. Though Ellen barely knows him, he is the linchpin of the escape route, and his calm competence reassures both the Rosen family and the reader that the plan will succeed.

Peter Nielsen

Peter organizes the underground logistics that move the Rosens toward Sweden. He administers the sleeping powder to the infant on the boat and delivers the packet Annemarie must later retrieve—making him an unseen but essential guardian of Ellen's escape.

The German Soldier

The soldier who examines Ellen by lamplight during the night raid represents the existential threat that defines Ellen's situation. His scrutiny of her dark hair—and his ultimate, grudging acceptance of Papa's explanation—is the novel's most suspenseful scene and the moment Ellen's Jewish identity is most dangerously exposed.

Kirsti Johansen

Kirsti's innocent, fearless chatter around soldiers provides inadvertent comic relief and occasionally deflects tension, indirectly protecting Ellen by normalizing the household's appearance during dangerous moments.

Lise Johansen

Though Lise is dead before the novel begins, her baby photographs become the evidence Papa uses to pass Ellen off as a Johansen, making Lise's memory an unwitting shield for Ellen's survival.

Study06–07

06·Questions

Questions readers ask about Ellen Rosen

Who is Ellen Rosen's best friend in Number the Stars?

Ellen Rosen's best friend is Annemarie Johansen, and their friendship is the emotional core of the novel. Annemarie's family risks their safety to hide Ellen during the Nazi night raid, giving her a borrowed identity as a third Johansen daughter. Annemarie's midnight sprint through the woods to deliver the crucial packet to Uncle Henrik's boat is driven entirely by her love for Ellen.

How does Papa Johansen protect Ellen during the soldiers' night raid?

Papa protects Ellen by presenting old infant photographs of his deceased daughter Lise to explain why Ellen—a dark-haired girl sharing Annemarie's bed—does not resemble a Johansen. The soldiers scrutinize Ellen by lamplight, but Papa's calm, authoritative presentation of the photographs diffuses the threat. His choice to invoke Lise's memory as a shield demonstrates both moral courage and the strategic necessity of deception under occupation.

What happens to Ellen Rosen at the end of Number the Stars?

Ellen and her family are smuggled across the sound to Sweden, where they find safety. Before leaving, Ellen gives Annemarie her Star of David necklace as a keepsake—an object that later becomes central to Annemarie's bravest act. Ellen's departure is bittersweet: she is safe but permanently displaced from Denmark, and the necklace represents their friendship and the promise of reunion.

Why is Ellen Rosen's dark hair so dangerous in the novel?

Ellen's dark hair is dangerous because it signals Jewish identity in a world where German soldiers conduct nighttime inspections by lamplight. During the Chapter 5 raid, a soldier shines his lamp directly at Ellen because her hair does not match the fair Johansen children. Lowry uses this detail to make the abstract concept of antisemitism immediately physical and visceral, showing how Ellen's body becomes a site of life-threatening scrutiny.

How does Ellen Rosen show bravery during the Nazi soldiers' inspection?

Ellen shows bravery by remaining silent and still while a German soldier examines her by lamplight—a controlled performance that conceals her terror. Though she is paralyzed with fear, she maintains the role of a Johansen daughter, giving Papa the time he needs to produce Lise's photographs. Lowry frames this as an actor's instinct under pressure: Ellen's disciplined composure is as crucial to her survival as Papa's quick thinking.

Why is Ellen Rosen considered the moral centre of the novel if she rarely takes action?

Ellen's vulnerability, not her agency, drives every significant decision in the plot—the lies told to soldiers, the journey to Henrik's farmhouse, and Annemarie's midnight run through the woods all exist because Ellen's life is at stake. Lowry uses Ellen's enforced passivity to reframe bravery, suggesting that enduring displacement, surrendering one's name and home, and trusting others completely can itself embody a form of quiet resistance and courage.

How does Ellen Rosen's love of acting connect to her survival in Number the Stars?

Ellen's passion for acting—seen early in the novel as she and Annemarie rehearse fairy-tale roles on the streets of Copenhagen—prefigures the moment she must enact the role of a Johansen daughter to survive. Lowry positions Ellen's theatrical imagination as a vital skill: understanding how narrative and pretense can reshape reality allows her to hold her composure under a soldier's lamp during the night raid.

What is the significance of the Star of David necklace Ellen Rosen leaves with Annemarie?

The Star of David necklace is the novel's central symbol of Ellen and Annemarie's friendship and the cost of their separation. Ellen leaves it with Annemarie before departing for Sweden, and it later rests in Annemarie's pocket during her dangerous sprint through the woods to Henrik's boat—transforming from a personal keepsake into a token that motivates Annemarie's bravest act. It signifies that Ellen's absence represents survival, not abandonment, and carries the promise of eventual reunion.

07·Essay angles

Use this in your essay

Tool · Essay angles

  • Passivity as courage: Ellen rarely acts; she endures. Argue that Lowry uses Ellen's enforced passivity to reframe bravery—demonstrating that survival under occupation can itself be a form of resistance.

  • Identity and performance: Ellen's love of acting prefigures the moment she must perform the role of a Johansen daughter to survive. Examine how the novel connects theatrical pretense to the moral necessity of deception under Nazi occupation.

  • The body as evidence: The soldiers' scrutiny of Ellen's dark hair positions her physical self as a site of danger. Analyse how Lowry uses Ellen's appearance to make abstract antisemitism viscerally immediate for a young readership.

  • The necklace as symbol: Trace the Star of David necklace from Ellen's throat to Annemarie's keeping to Annemarie's running pocket. How does this object carry Ellen's symbolic presence through scenes she does not inhabit?

  • Displacement and belonging: Ellen moves from apartment to borrowed bed to farmhouse to boat to Sweden. Build a thesis around her repeated displacement as a structural metaphor for the condition of Jewish life under occupation—never fully belonging, always contingently safe.

Number the Stars

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