Eleanor and Park: Chapter 16 Summary & Analysis

Eleanor’s weekend creeps by at a glacial pace. All she can think about is Monday, when she gets to see Park again. As she does her homework, she notices that someone has written “do i make you wet” on her geography textbook cover, and crosses it out with black pen, embarrassed. Eleanor watches cartoons with her siblings, listens to Park’s music on her Walkman, and fantasizes about holding hands with him all afternoon. In the days since they started holding hands on the bus, the two of them have talked less—but Eleanor feels like their connection has gotten stronger, and her attraction to him has grown.

Meanwhile, Park is spending his weekend having driving lessons with his father, Jamie, who is attempting to teach him how to drive stick. Park keeps messing up, and his father keeps reprimanding him for his mistakes and making him start again. Park protests that there’s no point in learning to drive manual, since he’ll only ever have to drive the family’s automatic Impala, but Park’s father shouts that Park needs to learn. Park knows that if his mother were around, his father would never talk to him this way. Park’s father demands he try again, but when Park continues shorting the engine, his father gets angrier and angrier, at one point hitting the glove box. Park gets out of the car and begins walking home, ignoring his father’s angry screams.

On the walk home, Park takes the long way so that he can walk past Eleanor’s house. He hopes that he’ll be able to see her face through the window, but is unable to catch a glimpse. As he heads home, he dreads the rest of the weekend, and can’t wait for Monday to come.