71 pages • 2 hours read
Rainbow RowellEleanor and Park
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Themes
The Wonder of First Love
The fundamental theme that seems to underlie almost every aspect of this novel is the wonder experienced as a result of first love. In this book, this theme is ultimately expressed through the young couple, Park and Eleanor. Over the span of several chapters, the two go from being complete strangers sitting next to each other on a school bus, to being each other’s respective first loves. Romance is so new to them that the idea of merely holding hands causes butterflies in their stomachs, a situation that anyone who has been in love can attest to. Eleanor and Park is fundamentally a love story, but it also sets the pureness of Eleanor and Park’s love in stark contrast to the powerful hate that Eleanor’s stepfather Richie exhibits toward everyone around him. At this time in Park and Eleanor’s lives, their relationship is the best thing that’s ever happened to them. Park very quickly tells Eleanor that he loves her, and it is apparent that she feels the same way throughout the second half of the novel, but arguably, she never tells Park that she loves him too until the last chapter of the book. As a result of the book’s tantalizing ending, it is impossible to say whether or not Park and Eleanor have a future together. But what is certain is that they would never forget the excitement they felt at being each other’s first love.
Bullying
Bullying is a theme that recurs throughout the novel. Park himself is picked on because of his Asian heritage, though the bullying he experiences is relatively mild and does not really bother him. Eleanor, on the other hand, receives much harsher treatment than Park on a more frequent basis. She is large in stature and has red hair, so her peers commonly call her “Big Red.” Eleanor also has tampons plastered all over her locker during gym glass one day, after which she realizes that all of her clothes have been flushed down the toilet. Park cannot stand the treatment Eleanor receives after he falls in love with her, so he finally stands up to her bully Steve and gets into a fight with him. Eleanor has also had lewd messages written anonymously on her notebooks all year. It is not until the final chapters of the book that she discovers that her own stepfather has been writing the terrible messages. This event is the very climax of the entire book itself, which is brought on Eleanor’s cruel treatment at the hands of the seemingly deranged Richie. With this in mind, bullying is a theme that stays relevant from the beginning to the end of the book.
Being Abandoned
Abandonment is an extremely significant theme in Eleanor and Park. Abandonment has been the name of the game for Eleanor in her short life, so we are first introduced to the theme from her perspective. She has already been abandoned by her father, mother, and Richie at various times in her life by the time the novel begins, and in this sense, she has no one to turn to until she meets Park and his family. At the very end of the book, Eleanor enacts her own sort of abandonment by refusing to answer or even read any of Park’s letters. As a result, Park attempts to forget about Eleanor and move on, until she finally writes him a letter in the last chapter of the book. It is not certain whether or not Park and Eleanor will ever get back together in some fictional future, but what can be sure is that Eleanor did try and move on from Park by not replying to his letters, thus temporarily abandoning him.
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By Rainbow Rowell
