Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Enduring Impact of Trauma
Shame and the Stigmatization of Pain
Projection and Denial
The Vicious Circle of Isolation and Social Awkwardness
Summary
Analysis
Eleanor wakes up on the sofa, which is covered in towels. Her body hurts and her head is pounding. She realizes she’s wearing her lemon nightgown. She wonders whether she’s alive. Eleanor sees a tall glass of vodka on the coffee table before her. She gulps it down before realizing, to her disappointment, that the liquid is water. She hears a man in the kitchen and wonders who he is. Suddenly, she hears a knock and Raymond’s head appears. Raymond asks her how she’s feeling and tells her she’s going to be fine, which Eleanor doesn’t find especially consoling. Raymond leaves to make Eleanor soup.
Eleanor has been falsely convincing herself and others that she’s completely fine for the entire novel, so Raymond’s reassurance that everything will be fine is not particularly reassuring to Eleanor.
Themes
Raymond returns with a mug of tomato soup. Eleanor tries to eat it with a spoon, but her hands are shaking too badly. Raymond helps Eleanor to her bed, and she falls into a deep sleep. Eleanor wakes up later, drinks more water, and takes a shower. She walks out of the bathroom to find her apartment has been tidied, the empty vodka bottles nowhere to be seen. There’s a vase of yellow tulips with a note from Raymond on her kitchen table. Eleanor cries, realizing that nobody’s given her flowers before.
Eleanor’s shaking hands might be a symptom of alcohol withdrawal. Notably, the yellow color of the tulips matches the yellow of Eleanor’s nightgown. Earlier, Eleanor noted that the color yellow is comforting to her because it reminds her of old-fashioned candies, which were something she never had as a child because Mummy believed sweets were for unsophisticated palettes. In this way, Eleanor seems to find yellow comforting because it represents the absence of her past.
Themes
Eleanor realizes that she’s been living her life the “wrong” way and doesn’t know how to fix it. She makes some tea and calls Raymond. Raymond answers and asks Eleanor how she’s feeling, to which she responds “fine,” as she knows this is “the correct answer.” Eleanor’s response exasperates Raymond. He tells her he’ll come over in an hour.
Eleanor used to respond to setbacks by isolating herself further, but now her impulse is to call Raymond. Eleanor is increasingly able to see that she doesn’t need to hide her loneliness and depression.
Themes
Raymond arrives with a bag of candy for Eleanor and starts to fill her in on the events of the past week. When she didn’t show up to work for three days, everyone was concerned. Bob gave Raymond Eleanor’s home address. Raymond arrived at Eleanor’s apartment and found Eleanor preparing to kill herself. Raymond tells Eleanor she can talk to him about things—she doesn’t have to keep them inside.
Earlier, Eleanor doubted that her coworkers would notice if she stopped coming to work, and Raymond’s concern proves her wrong. Raymond encourages Eleanor to set aside her shame to talk to him so that he can help her.
Themes
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Eleanor doubts that sharing her pain with others will make her problems go away: nobody can understand what it feels like to be her. Raymond suggests that Eleanor see a therapist, but she scoffs at this suggestion, as well. Raymond gently suggests that a healthy person wouldn’t give herself alcohol poisoning and entertain suicidal ideations. Eleanor downplays her actions, suggesting that she just had a stressful night and a little too much to drink.
Just as Eleanor downplays the seriousness of her trauma, she downplays the seriousness of her negative ways of coping with that trauma. Eleanor is skeptical of therapy because she has never experienced the positive effects of confiding in others, as she doesn’t allow herself to do so since the fire out of fear and apprehension.
Themes
Raymond really wants Eleanor to seek help: if he hadn’t gone to her house when he did, he tells her, she might be dead now. Eleanor finally admits that she’s unhappy, but reasons that everyone feels sad from time to time. Raymond emphasizes the seriousness of Eleanor’s suicidal thoughts and Eleanor agrees to see a therapist. Raymond asks her if she wants him to get in touch with her mother, but Eleanor shakes her head, saying that Mummy would only be happy to know that Eleanor has been suffering.
Eleanor’s reluctant decision to see a therapist suggests that she is finally starting to be upfront and less ashamed of not being fine. Eleanor’s comment that it would please Mummy to know that she is suffering shows that Eleanor is more willing to disclose details about her relationship with Mummy to Raymond; in this instance, she alludes to the fact that Mummy is emotionally abuse toward her.
Themes
