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- Allie is frequently beaten and raped by her foster father. When Allie gains the power and is spurred on by a voice in her head, she kills her father with her power and runs away to a convent.
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When Allie gains the power and is spurred on by a voice in her head, she kills her father with her power and runs away to a convent. Allie renames herself Eve and performs a series of so-called “miracles” that are really due to the fact that she can control her power exceptionally well.
- Overview
- Character Story
Allie (book) is a main character in The Power (book). At the beginning of the story, she is a 16-year-old mixed-race girl and lives with adoptive parents in Jacksonville, Alabama.
Ten Years to Go
We learn that Allie's adoptive parents took her in out of “Christian charity”. Her adoptive father owns number of meat-packing and meat-producing factories around the area. Her adopted mother, Mrs. Montgomery-Taylor, is a religious woman, fond of giving speeches full of fire and brimstone.
Allie has recently realized that she has the power and has been practicing how to use it. In her mind, she hears a voice — which she tells herself is the voice of her deceased mother, Annabeth MacDuff — urging her on. Today, she’s with two boys, Hunter and Kyle, in the graveyard where her mother’s tombstone is. They start to fondle her, as she sometimes lets them do. However, she’s not in the mood, and she zaps them lightly instead. They get mad at her from bringing them out there and zapping them, and they unhappily trudge off.
When Allie sneaks back into the house, Mr. Clyde Montgomery-Taylor immediately smacks her back-handed across the face, calling her a “whore” for being out with the boys. He the proceeds to rape her, as he has many times before. Allie knows that Mrs. Montgomery-Taylor knows what goes on and that she ignores it.
Within her, Allie knows today is the day to fight back. She jolts him, and he collapses, but is still alive. She then places her hand on his heart and does it again. A voice in her head then tells her to take the little crucifix hanging on the wall with her as she leaves.
Nine Years to Go
In equating her power to being able to wield a knife, Allie demonstrates how much the power is already connected to violence in the women’s minds.
Allie tests her ability to hijack minds with her powers on the convent’s chickens. But she goes too far and accidentally kills one. Later, Allie shows other girls the extent of her powers.
The voice’s counsel that Allie must own the place in order to feel like she belongs there becomes a primary motivation for Allie and a key insight to power. Although eventually this motivation deeply corrupts her, all she wants initially is to be able to find a place where she can feel safe.
Allies strikes the boy she actually likes in the armpit with a small prick of electricity as he forcibly touches her; she renders the other boy voiceless with a jolt across his throat. The boys...
The voice in Allie’s head is a powerful symbol of control (and power itself). For a time, Allie believes the voice must be a higher power or some force that wants her to act in a certain way. She listens to it.
