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
It’s Sunday, and Eleanor is about to leave to meet Raymond for lunch. She tells Glen goodbye and heads out. All Eleanor has been able to think about since her last therapy session is Marianne. After her breakthrough, Dr. Temple told Eleanor to prepare herself to talk more about Marianne during their next session.
Speaking Marianne’s name aloud has made her real for Eleanor. Now that Eleanor is no longer repressing memories of Marianne, she can begin to unpack what happened to them both and start to understand how Marianne has affected her life in the years since the fire.
Themes
When Eleanor arrives at the Black Dog, Raymond is already there. She notices that he looks unwell, and Raymond tells her he had a late night. Eleanor suspects that Laura was involved, and she asks him about her, explaining that she ran into Laura on the street weeks before. Raymond says he and Laura had been seeing each other, but that she’s too “high maintenance” for him. He cares about looks, but it’s more important that he can enjoy his partner’s company.
Raymond’s criticism of Laura proves that Eleanor’s initial judgment of Raymond—that he was a dumb male who only cared about looks—was incorrect. The more Eleanor engages with the world, the more she realizes that people take time and nuance to really understand, and that it’s very often worth it to take the time and effort to understand them. Eleanor previously embodied Mummy’s hypercritical attitude toward the world, but now she’s ready to form her own thoughts.
Themes
Eleanor and Raymond move on to other inconsequential subjects, but Raymond continues to look uncomfortable. Eventually, he tells Eleanor that he was doing some research about her past and found out some things she might want to know. He asks Eleanor where Mummy is. Eleanor becomes hostile and refuses to answer. Raymond apologizes for upsetting Eleanor, and Eleanor apologizes for becoming upset.
Eleanor’s refusal to answer Raymond’s question could stem from stubbornness or from a genuine confusion about Mummy’s whereabouts—after all, she has yet to explicitly state where Mummy has been throughout the course of the novel. Raymond seems to acknowledge that it’s an important part of Eleanor’s recovery to understand the truth about Mummy and the fire on her own terms.
Themes
On her way home from lunch with Raymond, Eleanor thinks about how she’s often tempted to drink after her therapy sessions but that the thought of Glen keeps these urges at bay: Glen needs Eleanor, and Eleanor needs to be there for Glen. Eleanor decides that Glen’s need for her is a “privilege,” not a “burden.”
Glen helps Eleanor realize that she’s been thinking about the “cost” of relationships all wrong: she shouldn’t be perpetually worried about the pain that might come with loving someone. Instead, she should instead focus on the “privilege” of having people in her life, regardless of the risk of emotional vulnerability that accompanies all relationships.
Themes
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