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
Eleanor hates Wednesdays. Every Wednesday, Park has taekwondo, and Eleanor is forced to go straight home after school and spend all night in her room reading. Eleanor is often cooped up with her siblings, since it’s still too cold for them to play outside. One Wednesday afternoon, while Eleanor is reading in bed, Maisie approaches her and tells her that she and the other kids know that Eleanor has a boyfriend. Eleanor denies it, but Maisie says Ben heard the truth from one of Josh Sheridan’s friends—Eleanor’s secret is out. Ben, who is playing in the corner, looks up at Eleanor blankly. Eleanor warns her siblings that if they tell Sabrina or Richie, Eleanor will get kicked out again.
Eleanor’s life reaches a crossroads as her younger siblings discover the secret she’s been working so hard to keep. Eleanor’s relationship with Park is predicated on her ability to keep it a secret from her family—and now that divide has been breached. Eleanor is nervous that her siblings will turn against her, given their newfound allegiance to Richie.
Themes
Ben says that he and Maisie aren’t going to tell—but want something in return. Maisie, with a “desperate” look in her eyes, stares hard at Eleanor. Eleanor intuits what her siblings want from her—and tells them that she can’t take them with her when she leaves the house every afternoon. Maisie accuses Eleanor of not caring about them. Eleanor says she does care—but she can’t help them, since she can’t even help herself.
Maisie changes tactics. Staring “hard” at Eleanor, her eyes cold, she demands that Eleanor let them use her secret stash of stuff—comics, makeup, and music. Eleanor tells them they can use what’s hers, but they need to put it away when they’re done, or else they’ll get caught and have everything confiscated.
Maisie is unable to secure what she wants from Eleanor, which is a physical escape from the house—instead, she settles for being able to use Eleanor’s things, which will provide her with a semblance of escape if not a literal one.
Themes
The narrative switches to Park’s point of view. Park, too, hates Wednesdays—he misses being around Eleanor, and hates the cold way he and his father have been interacting since Park started wearing makeup. Though Eleanor insists that Jamie loves him, Park feels his father’s love is “obligatory”—in reality, he thinks, his dad can’t “stand the sight of him.” Nevertheless, Park continues wearing eyeliner to school each day—even though his dad starts pretending he isn’t there.
Again, Rowell shows that in spite of the way strife and conflict have infiltrated his home life, Park is unwilling to surrender the truth of who he is just to make peace with his judgmental father.
Themes
Get the entire Eleanor and Park LitChart as a printable PDF.
The narrative switches to Eleanor’s point of view. Now that Maisie and Ben know the truth, she fears her secret about Park will soon be out. Eleanor worries that “She [is] running out of time with him.”
Eleanor has worked so hard and risked so much for her relationship with Park—and now she fears it is all about to come to an end.
Themes
