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 Monday. Eleanor feels on edge, so much so that she took the bus back to the department store earlier that afternoon and got another makeover. She wanted to see “Bobbi Brown” again, but “Bobbi” wasn’t there and she had to use a different artist. Eleanor ended up buying her own makeup supplies at the appointment, and now she’ll be able to do her own makeup at home.
Before, Eleanor might have turned to alcohol and isolation when she felt on edge; now, however, she gets out of the house to combat unpleasant feelings. She’s learning to engage with the world instead of shutting herself off from it.
Themes
Eleanor walks into the office the next morning with makeup and her new outfit on and Billy greets her with a wolf whistle. The women all compliment Eleanor’s hair and clothing. Eleanor “proudly” tells Janey that her friend Laura did her hair, and she hands Laura’s card to Janey. Eleanor notes that she’s gotten more attention from these women today than she has gotten in the past few years. She’s happy.
Everybody’s approval of Eleanor’s new look gives her a false sense of confidence that these superficial changes are enough to improve her life. In reality, all that these external improvements do is mask Eleanor’s internal strife.
Themes
Eleanor receives an email from Raymond asking if everything’s alright—she left the party on Saturday without saying goodbye. Eleanor says she’s fine, and Raymond responds with a lunch invitation, which Eleanor accepts, responding “C U there E.” She’s surprised to realize that she’s actually looking forward to seeing Raymond.
Eleanor starts to look forward to socializing now that she has had more time to practice it. She feels more comfortable interacting with others, which is apparent in her willingness to respond to Raymond with the abbreviated language she had early denounced.
Themes
Eleanor and Raymond meet at their usual café, and Raymond tells Eleanor that she looks nice. Eleanor says people seem to like her better with makeup on, and Raymond shrugs. They talk about the party on Saturday. Raymond asks Eleanor about her promotion, and she tells him she’d decided to accept it. He smiles and congratulates her. Eleanor asks Raymond about his mother. Raymond says that his mother is lonely, which Eleanor sensed the first time she saw her. Raymond excuses himself to use the bathroom.
Raymond’s indifference toward Eleanor’s makeup suggests that unlike Eleanor’s coworkers, he sees through the superficiality of makeup and other external indicators of wellbeing. This shows that Raymond is naturally intuitive and is genuinely invested in Eleanor as a friend.
Themes
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A baby seated next to Eleanor starts to cry, triggering a flashback in which Eleanor appears to plead with someone to stop crying: “please don’t cry. There isn’t anything to eat. Mummy will be back soon. Where’s Mummy?” The baby stops crying, and Eleanor returns to reality. Raymond returns from the bathroom, Eleanor pays for lunch, and they head back to the office. Raymond tells Eleanor to “take care,” and she can tell he means it. Eleanor tells him to do the same.
The crying baby triggers an unconscious memory of Eleanor comforting someone—seemingly someone younger—who had been crying. It’s possible that this person is the same one whose hair Eleanor recalled brushing in the traumatic flashback she underwent at Laura’s salon. On another note, as Eleanor’s friendship with Raymond deepens, she learns that gestures like saying “take care” don’t have to be shallow—one can genuinely mean it when they express sentiments like this.
Themes
Eleanor returns home. She checks tabs on Johnnie Lomond, but there’s nothing of interest on any of his social media accounts. In an unplanned and unfortunate turn of events, Eleanor hears from Mummy, who has two things to talk about. First, she asks Eleanor if she wants her to “pull some strings” and pay her a visit to help her with her “project,” however impossible that might be. Eleanor refuses, insisting that she has everything under control. Mummy calls Eleanor a “bumbling idiot” and tells her she needs to speed things up with the musician. Eleanor agrees: since first seeing Johnny, her new obligations have halted her pursuance of him. Eleanor asks Mummy what the second thing was that Mummy was talking about, and Mummy replies that she just wanted to remind Eleanor that she’s “a pointless waste of human tissue,” and then there is only silence.
When Mummy tells Eleanor to refocus her attention on her “project,” she encourages Eleanor to retreat into the safety of fantasy and delusion (represented by the musician) instead of making herself vulnerable by forging real relationships with people (represented by Raymond). At this point in the novel, it is a recurring pattern for Mummy to play on Eleanor’s insecurities and berate her immediately after she has had a good day. Mummy cuts Eleanor down to erase any progress Eleanor makes toward moving forward in her life.
Themes
A tweet from @johnnieLrocks, the musician, informs his followers that he is leaving his band, Pilgrim Pioneers, to go solo. He includes the hashtags #astarisborn and #iconoclast.
Honeyman includes more of Johnnie’s tweets to alert the reader to Johnnie’s unpleasant personality and to the way Eleanor’s delusions blind her to this reality.
Themes
