Eleanor and Park: Chapter 21 Summary & Analysis

As Eleanor boards the bus on Monday morning, she wonders if Park will look different to her now that she knows he is in love with her. When she spots him in his regular seat, she finds that he does look different—he is “more beautiful than ever.” Eleanor sits down beside Park, and they both slouch low in their seats and hold hands. Eleanor hands Park the tape of Beatles music she made him over the weekend, and they listen to it on the ride. At Eleanor’s locker, she tells Park that she has told her mother she might go over to a friend’s after school—Park tells her he’d love for Eleanor to come over.

The narrative switches to Park’s point of view. As the two of them ride home to Park’s house on the bus together, he can’t “help but see Eleanor the way his mom [is] going to.” Mindy, a beautician, doesn’t like it when women dress alternatively or “like [a] man.” Eleanor isn’t “nice” in general—and Park’s mom “love[s] nice.”

As Park prepares to introduce Eleanor to his mother, he advises Eleanor to smile. She gets upset and wants to know why—but before Park can answer her, Mindy has come into the living room. She greets Eleanor, who smiles widely and crookedly, clearly nervous. Eleanor and Park sit on the couch in the living room and turn on MTV, but as they watch in silence, Park can tell that something is wrong. When Park asks Eleanor what’s going on, she tells him she was thrown when he asked her to smile. Park explains that he was nervous—he’s “never brought anyone like [Eleanor] home before.” Eleanor stands up quickly and tells Park she’s leaving and will see him tomorrow. Park begs Eleanor to stay, but she tells him she’ll only embarrass him, and begins crying.

Park pulls Eleanor back down onto the couch, assuring her that he doesn’t want her to leave. Eleanor continues crying and says that she hates meeting new people—they “never like [her].” Park puts his arm around Eleanor and asks her if she’ll stay. They continue watching TV, but after another 20 minutes or so, Eleanor says she wants to leave again. This time, Park lets her. He walks her to the door and tells her he wanted her to smile because she’s pretty when she smiles—Eleanor says she wishes Park thought she was pretty even when she doesn’t, and then turns to leave. Park goes inside, and his mother tells him that Eleanor seems “nice.”

The narrative switches to Eleanor’s point of view. She is worried that Park is going to break up with her tomorrow—she feels she made a fool out of herself in front of his mother, and is grateful she didn’t have to meet his dad. Eleanor feels guilty that meeting Park’s family was “too much” for her—but part of her knows that as much as Park wants her too, she will “never belong in [his] living room.” These days, Eleanor has a hard time feeling like she belongs anywhere at all.