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Elain is one of Feyre’s elder sisters, and she is characterized by her sweet, positive nature. Despite the family’s extreme poverty, Elain still sees the beauty in the world and enjoys tending to her garden in the spring. However, she’s not particularly useful in bettering the family’s situation or helping around the house, although Feyre excuses her sister by assuming that Elain is so naive that she doesn’t consider herself capable of hard work. Unlike Feyre and Nesta, who resent their father, Elain is deeply attached to him. In fact, she doesn’t seem to perceive any of the negative attributes in her family members, choosing to see the good in everyone.
Elain represents the importance of hope and positivity. She loves everyone in her family despite their failures and faults, and she maintains a sense of girlish joy and cheerfulness even in hopeless circumstances. Her garden, which she cultivates with care, is a metaphor for her own role in the novel – while she is not a laborer or a survivalist like Feyre, she does see the value in fostering the beauties and joys that make life worth living. Just as Elain tends to her garden despite its relative uselessness, so do Feyre and Nesta tend to Elain, because her goodness is worth nurturing.
