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Chapter 38
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Eleanor and Park, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Adolescence and Shame
Love and Intimacy
Poverty and Class
Family and Abuse
Summary
Analysis
Lately, Park has been cycling through new music especially fast, listening to everything from punk to New Wave to Elvis Costello. One Thursday night, he suggests Eleanor come up to his room so that he can play her an Elvis Costello tape. Eleanor expresses her usual fear that Park’s parents will judge her for going into his room—but when Park asks his father if it’s okay for them to go up, Jamie responds he doesn’t care what they do as long as nobody gets pregnant.
In this passage, the symbol of music is rendered as a more literal method of connection, as Park uses listening to music as a kind of excuse for getting some real alone time with Eleanor.
Themes
Eleanor and Park go into Park’s room and sit on the floor near the stereo. As Park cues up an Elvis Costello tape, Eleanor asks if Park misses spending time with his other friends, like Cal, considering how much time she’s started taking up in his life. Park insists that there’s no one he’d ever miss but Eleanor.
This passage hints at the flip side of a love as intense as Eleanor and Park’s—all of their other friendships are falling by the wayside as they indulge their obsession with one another.
Themes
Eleanor and Park listen to tape after tape, and, soon after Mindy stops by the open door to check on them, Park leans over to kiss Eleanor. They both lose their balance, and Eleanor falls over on some tapes, smashing a few cases. Eleanor is embarrassed, and though Park tries to assure her he doesn’t care, Eleanor stands up to leave.
Eleanor’s relationship with Park has allowed her to feel more confident in herself—but there are still moments when she is reminded of the things about herself of which she is ashamed or uncertain.
Themes
Back at Eleanor’s house, Eleanor walks into her room to find Maisie covered in makeup and perfume. Eleanor should be worried about Maisie—and, by proxy, herself—getting caught, but she’s too distracted by the memory of kissing Park. Eleanor wishes Park could kiss and touch her constantly—she feels “like one of those dogs [who’s] tasted human blood and can’t stop biting.”
This passage shows how even in the face of increasing tension and threats to her relationship with Park, Eleanor remains committed to getting as much out of it as she can for as long as she can.
Themes
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