Eleanor and Park: Chapter 35 Summary & Analysis

One night, as Eleanor hurries to leave the Sheridans’ house before dinner, she runs into Park’s dad, Jamie, on the front steps. She greets him quickly and hurries past him, but he calls out to her. He tells her that he’s “getting tired” of asking her to stay for dinner—he tells her she is welcome anytime, and has a standing invitation. Eleanor is confused, but then Jamie goes on: he says that he knows Richie, and the two of them grew up together. He says that he knows Richie isn’t “easy” to be around, and that Eleanor should feel comfortable spending as much time as she needs to with Park and the rest of the family. Eleanor smiles and follows Jamie back inside the house.

The narrative switches to Park’s point of view. Even though he and Eleanor spend every afternoon and evening together, it “still [isn’t] enough.” Park wishes the two of them could be alone together, but every time Park suggests spending time up in his room—albeit with the door open—Eleanor insists she doesn’t want his family to think she’s “slutty.”

One evening, as Eleanor and Mindy are discussing Mindy’s love of hairdressing, Mindy suggests giving Eleanor a makeover. Eleanor is reluctant, but Mindy insists she won’t give Eleanor a noticeable haircut or put on anything that can’t be washed off. Eleanor agrees, and Mindy leads her out to the makeshift salon in the garage.

As Mindy begins giving Eleanor a makeover, Park works as his mother’s assistant. Eleanor is slightly embarrassed, but because she is the Sheridans’ guest, she is determined to keep her mouth shut and let Mindy have her fun. Mindy washes Eleanor’s hair and treats it for dryness with a hot-oil pack, then does Eleanor’s makeup. Mindy demonstrates a couple of the eye pencils on a reluctant Park, and Eleanor admires how “dangerous” Park looks with the makeup around his eyes. Mindy blows Eleanor’s hair dry with a diffuser while Eleanor and Park play rock-paper-scissors to pass the time.

When the makeover is done, Mindy urges Eleanor to look at how pretty she is in the mirror, but Eleanor feels like she is about to cry. She is embarrassed, she tells Park when Mindy steps out for a second, to have everyone look at her. Park points out that he’s always looking at Eleanor—she says she wishes he’d stop. Eleanor looks at herself in the mirror, and though she hates the “fake face” Mindy has given her, she tries her best to stay calm. When Park admires Eleanor’s beauty, she accuses him of liking her better as a “different person,” but Park insists Eleanor looks just like herself but “with the volume turned up.”

The narrative switches to Park’s point of view. After Eleanor’s makeover is done, he can’t figure out “why it upset[s] her so much” to look a little different—he wonders if there’s a part of Eleanor that wants to look ugly. The next morning, as Park gets ready for school, he puts some of his mother’s eyeliner on, and surprisingly feels he looks “more masculine” than he usually does. He leaves his hair wild rather than combing it, and heads down for breakfast—where his father “flip[s]” out over Park’s new look. Though Jamie demands Park comb his hair and wash the makeup off his face, Park ignores his father, insisting that “Plenty of guys,” like David Bowie, wear makeup. Mindy tells Jamie to lay off Park and let him make his own decisions, and Park takes advantage of the opportunity to rush out the door.

When Park gets on the bus, he makes eye contact with Steve—who immediately asks if he’s wearing makeup. Park says he is, and braces for a taunt or a physical assault—but instead, Steve tells him he looks “kind of […] like Ozzy [Osbourne]” and then goes back to talking with Tina. When Eleanor gets on the bus and sees Park, she rushes over to their seat—and kisses him hard.