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
As Eleanor boards the bus after school, the popular Tina pushes past her and calls her a cruel nickname. Tina has already popularized the nicknames “Bozo” and “Bloody Mary” in the gym class she and Eleanor share, and has gotten all the other girls in class to turn against Eleanor. Eleanor hates gym for many reasons—the teasing being one, and the mandatory wearing of gym suits being another. As Eleanor settles into her seat on the bus, she notes her seatmate is not there yet—she dreads the “awkward” interaction of having to stand up to let him get to his window seat when he boards. Though Eleanor never talks to the “stupid Asian kid” or looks at him, she has noticed that he’s always reading comic books. Eleanor thinks that she’ll never be able to read on the bus—she doesn’t want to get caught “with her head down.”
Even though things at school are hard and miserable for Eleanor, she retains a measure of detachment about all the cruel teasing and bullying she faces each day. Eleanor’s home life has instilled in her the knowledge that she needs to just survive whatever’s in front of her—but never let her guard down.
Themes
The narrative switches to Park’s point of view. He is home from school after an awkward bus ride next to Eleanor—it is starting to feel “wrong” to sit next to her every day without exchanging even a simple hello. Park is trying to eat dinner alone in his room, but his little brother, Josh—all dressed and ready for taekwondo—interrupts Park and urges him to put his uniform on. Park angrily pushes Josh out of his room and slams the door. He is insecure about the fact that his younger brother is already taller than him, and has been trying, lately, to pretend more and more often that “he could still kick Josh’s ass.”
As readers get a glimpse into Park’s home life, it becomes clear that Park, too, faces insecurity and shame in his own house as well as at school. Even though Park’s struggles with his family are decidedly less intense than Eleanor’s, they share a common ground of feeling out of place and overshadowed in the one place they should feel supported and loved.
Themes
Park dons his taekwondo uniform and sneakers and heads to the kitchen. His father, Jamie, “barrel[s]” into the kitchen and scoops Park’s mother, Mindy, into his arms, kissing her deeply. Park is grossed out by his parents’ constant, overzealous displays of affection. Park and Josh head out to the car to wait for their father to finish changing into his own uniform.
This introduction to Park’s parents shows that they have an intense and intimate relationship—something that repulses Park and makes him nervous.
Themes
The narrative switches to Eleanor’s perspective. She hates the new routines her family has established in her absence—they eat dinner ridiculously early, at 4:30 p.m., so that all of the kids are out of the way by the time Richie gets home. Eleanor doesn’t mind not eating with Richie, since she loathes him, but hates being pent up for hours with her siblings in their bedroom.
With each glimpse into Eleanor’s home life, it becomes clearer and clearer that her family’s entire existence is organized around keeping Richie calm and happy.
Themes
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After dinner, Eleanor thinks about writing some letters to her friends from her old school, but her younger sister Maisie interrupts her, bringing the scraggly cat into the bedroom. As Eleanor looks at Maisie, she is disturbed by a recollection of seeing Maisie sitting on Richie’s lap a few days ago. A year ago, before Richie kicked Eleanor out, “all the kids were allied against him,” united in hatred of the man who yelled at and beat their mother regularly. Eleanor snaps out of her reverie and asks Maisie if she calls Richie “Dad” now—Maisie replies that Richie is their father now.
Eleanor clearly loathes Richie—and it’s evident that there’s a part of her that fears him, too. Richie is a sleeping volcano of a man whose tempers and volatile moods threaten everyone—and yet while Eleanor tries to resist caving into a life of subservience to Richie, and tip-toeing around him to keep him happy, her mother and even her siblings seem to believe that the best path forward is the one of least resistance.
Themes
