Chris Abani’s novel, GraceLand, tells a heartbreaking journey of a teenage boy named Elvis, and his slow escape from the impoverished lifestyle of Lagos, Nigeria. Elvis is smart and independent, having lost his mother when he was a young boy and growing up with a distant relationship with his father, Sunday. Throughout the novel, Elvis’s relationship with each character becomes important in defining Elvis’s character as a whole. Each character has a very distinct influence on Elvis and it is these different influences that shape him into the puzzled and distraught youth he is illustrated as in the novel. Elvis lives a different life when he is in Afikpo. In the first flashbacks, it is easy to see how close Elvis is with his mother, Beatrice. Beatrice is later revealed to be suffering from breast cancer and inevitable dies when Elvis is still young. But before she does, she makes full effort to teach her son everything necessary for him after she dies. Beatrice tells her mother, Oye, “I have taught him to sew, to iron, to cook, to read and write at a level beyond his age” (Abani 38). Beatrice’s teachings explains how Elvis is well beyond his years at age sixteen; he loves reading eminent works of literature and cares enough for his step-siblings to buy them food since their mother, Comfort, never would. After Beatrice passes away, Elvis remains close to his grandmother, Oye. In a later flashback, Elvis would read her letters from her pen pals. Abani writes, “Elvis enjoyed Oye’s trust. It was one of the few times when he felt needed” (83). Elvis’s low self-esteemed is not only revealed, but so is his close relationship to the women in his life. Elvis was trusted by Oye, and therefore could trust her, as well as Beatrice, Efua, and his Aunt Felicia. He feels comfortable around women, and portrays this by wearing makeup in the privacy of his room. He