Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Eleanor and Park, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Adolescence and Shame
Love and Intimacy
Poverty and Class
Family and Abuse
Summary
Analysis
During lunch hour, Park calls home to tell his mother that Eleanor is coming over after school. He urges his mother to “be nice” to Eleanor—she retorts that she’s nice to everyone. That afternoon, on the bus, Park can tell that Eleanor is nervous. He distracts her by talking to her about comic books, but as they get off the bus at Park’s stop and start walking to his house, Eleanor begins picking a fight by twisting Park’s words about her outfit. Park tells Eleanor that she always dresses “Like a sad hobo clown,” but that he “love[s]” the way she looks. Eleanor laughs, and Park does too.
Sometimes, when Park and Eleanor approach a new phase of their relationship, Eleanor looks to pick a fight or find another way to make herself or Park feel sad, unstable, or uncertain. This pattern, which emerges more powerfully over the course of the novel, could be seen as a defense mechanism on Eleanor’s part—an attempt to head off any pain or disappointment that might be waiting down the road.
Themes
The narrative switches to Eleanor’s point of view as Mindy opens the front door for her and Park. Eleanor is worried that Park’s mom hates her, and feels Mindy scrutinizing her outfit as the two of them head inside the house. As Eleanor looks around the living room, she can’t help but feel jealous of how nice everything is and how different Park’s lifestyle is from her own.
Even though Eleanor feels intimidated by Park’s more affluent lifestyle and his judgmental mother, she’s grateful for the time she gets to spend at a place as nice as the Sheridans’ home.
Themes
The narrative switches to Park’s point of view. Every day that week, Eleanor comes over after school. On Friday night, Jamie asks Eleanor to stay for dinner—and to Park’s surprise, she accepts the invitation. Park can tell that Eleanor is nervous during the meal, but after dinner, while everyone relaxes together and watches a movie, Eleanor reaches for Park’s hand and holds it.
As Eleanor grows closer with Park, she finds herself feeling closer and more comfortable around his family as well. Eleanor is getting to see for one of the first times in her life how a normal, healthy family functions.
Themes
After the movie, Jamie suggests Park walk Eleanor home. Eleanor thanks the Sheridans for a lovely night, and then she and Park head out the front door. Eleanor tells Park that he can’t walk her all the way home, but Park steers Eleanor towards the driveway next door, between a pine tree and an RV, explaining that it belongs to his grandparents. Park tells Eleanor he is going to “lose [his] mind” if he doesn’t kiss her goodnight. Eleanor says she’s nervous to kiss Park, as she’s never kissed anyone before, but Park reassures her that it’s going to be fine. The two of them share an intense, lengthy kiss, and pull apart and smile at one another before sharing another.
Eleanor and Park have intense feelings for one another, but have been entirely unphysical with one another up until this point. Now, as they share their first kiss, they find themselves both surmounting the insecurity and shame that’s been a part of their adolescence for so long and coming together in celebration of the relationship they’re building.
Themes
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The narrative switches to Eleanor’s point of view. As she walks in the front door of her house, she finds Richie and all her siblings watching TV in the living room. She quickly dodges his questions about where she’s been, claiming to have eaten dinner at her friend Tina’s, before retreating to her bedroom and climbing into bed still fully dressed.
Eleanor’s relationship with Park allows her to escape her life for a while, but every time she returns home, the same problems are waiting for her.
Themes
