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
Raymond arrives unannounced over the next few days to check on Eleanor. She’s touched by his persistence—when things would go awry when she’d been in the foster system, she’d simply be sent off to a new house. Eleanor wonders what it would be like to have a family who would be there for her whenever she needed them.
Raymond provides Eleanor with continuity, something she hasn’t had until now. He doesn’t give up on her and allow her to sink back into her old habits of drinking and denial.
Themes
Eleanor recalls how Raymond showed up earlier that day with a balloon for her. She made tea and Raymond asked her about the GP. Eleanor told him she made an appointment for tomorrow. Raymond was relieved and told Eleanor to be honest and forthcoming with the doctor. Eleanor plans to tell the doctor almost everything, though she’ll leave out the pills (which have been flushed down the toilet) as well as her talks with Mummy.
Eleanor’s motivation for not telling the doctor about the pills seems to be to downplay her level of emotional distress, but it’s not entirely clear why she doesn’t want the GP to know about her talks with Mummy. Eleanor’s decision not to tell the doctor about Mummy suggests that there is something about these conversations that Eleanor is withholding from the narrator—and perhaps even from herself.
Themes
