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
Mr. Stessman, Park’s English teacher, gives the class a new assignment: to memorize a poem. He tells them all that though they’ll probably forget most of what they’re learning in his class, they’ll always remember the poem they choose now. He urges them to pick a poem that will speak to them individually—but will also help them “speak to someone else.” Park plans to take the easy way out of the assignment by picking a simple rhyming poem. He feels “embarrassed” for Mr. Stessman for trying so hard to “work the room.”
This brief chapter further demonstrates just how hard Park is working to make himself invisible and participate in life as little as possible to avoid being seen as trying too hard.
Themes
