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Chapter 49
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
Eleanor tells Park that she needs to go. Park feels like the world has been turned “upside down.” He encourages Eleanor to wait until the morning and talk to her mother, but Eleanor says that given what Richie’s been writing on her books, she can’t possibly stay there any longer. Park suggests Eleanor go to her dad’s house, but Eleanor says her father doesn’t want her. Park asks her where she’ll go, and she says that she might be able to go up to her uncle’s in St. Paul a little early. Park’s eyes well with tears, and Eleanor herself begins sobbing.
There is a part of Park that is so desperate to keep Eleanor that he searches for excuses for her to stay, finding hope in a hopeless situation in an attempt to keep her just a little while longer. Eleanor and Park both break down, though, as they realize that there are forces beyond their control that are tearing them apart.
Themes
Park asks Eleanor how she’s going to get to St. Paul—she is planning on hitchhiking, but lies and tells him she’s going to take the bus. Park offers to drive her. He says that his parents will ground him, but that he doesn’t care—he tells Eleanor that in this moment, he doesn’t care about anything but her.
Once Park realizes that Eleanor is serious about leaving, he becomes serious about getting her out. As badly as he wants her to stay, he is willing to do anything for her—and if leaving is what she needs, he is going to help.
Themes
