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When Eleanor and Park first start interacting on the bus to school, they bond over comic books as Eleanor reads Watchmen, Batman, and others silently over Park’s shoulder when they’re forced, by chance, to sit together. Slowly and wordlessly, Park begins allowing Eleanor to read with him, and then brings her comic books of her own to read. When Eleanor expresses frustration with the comics, though, the two begin talking about music—and find that they never run out of feelings to discuss and bond over when it comes to the punk, new-wave, and shoegaze anthems of the mid-80s they so love. Park begins making mix tapes for Eleanor and bringing her batteries so that she won’t run out of juice while she listens at home each night to songs he’s chosen for her. Eleanor’s home life is a mess, and listening to the music Park curates for her is her only chance at escaping her needy siblings, her fawning, battered mother Sabrina, and her cruel stepfather Richie. Through music, she can feel farther from herself—but closer to Park. For Park, however, music is less an escape and more a way of being even more present in the world and in his own skin. As Park wrestles with his feelings of inadequacy and otherness, music allows him a way to discover his identity by emulating the style of the members of bands like The Smiths and The Cure. Music, then, is a complex and mutable symbol throughout the novel, but ultimately emerges as a symbol of connection—connection between people, but also connection with one’s deeper, hidden self.
Music Quotes in Eleanor and Park
The Eleanor and Park quotes below all refer to the symbol of Music. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 10
Quotes
"So," [Park] said, before he knew what to say next. "You like the Smiths?" He was careful not to blow his morning breath on [Eleanor.]
She looked up, surprised. Maybe confused. He pointed at her book, where she'd written How Soon Is Now? in tall green letters.
"I don't know," she said. "I've never heard them."
"So you just want people to think you like the Smiths?" He couldn't help but sound disdainful.
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Chapter 13
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Best of all, she had Park's songs in her head—and in her chest, somehow. There was something about the music on that tape. It felt different. Like, it set her lungs and her stomach on edge. There was something exciting about it, and something nervous. It made Eleanor feel like everything, like the world, wasn't what she'd thought it was.
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Chapter 55
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Park spent most nights lying on his bed because it was the only place she'd never been.
He lay on his bed and never turned on the stereo.
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Music Symbol Timeline in Eleanor and Park
The timeline below shows where the symbol Music appears in Eleanor and Park. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...1986—the start of Park Sheridan’s sophomore year of high school. He listens to New Wave music on his headphones, trying to drown out “the morons at the back of the bus.”...
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...and tells her it already belongs to someone. Park turns up the volume of his music, trying to ignore the situation, but when he looks up at the new girl’s face,...
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Chapter 4
...Walkman, though its batteries are missing. Eleanor, however, is thrilled just by “the possibility of music.”
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Chapter 10
...awkwardly in silence for a moment until Park asks Eleanor if she likes the Smiths’ music. He has noticed some lyrics to one of their songs written on her paper textbook...
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...hear. That night, Park makes Eleanor a mixtape, loading the tape up with New Wave music he thinks Eleanor might like. Before he goes to sleep, he puts the tape—and five...
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Chapter 12
...tells Park that she can’t accept the mixtape—she doesn’t have a way of listening to music. The embarrassed Eleanor covers her face with her hands.
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...the tape in, and places his headphones over Eleanor’s ears. He presses play and the music starts. Eleanor doesn’t take her hands off of her face the whole way to school....
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...switches to Park’s point of view. That afternoon, on the school bus, Eleanor listens to music on his Walkman again. As Eleanor’s stop approaches, she hands the Walkman back to Park,...
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Chapter 13
...next morning, she feels better than the day before. She feels like she’s carrying Park’s music “in her chest, somehow.” The music has made Eleanor feel like “the world [isn’t] what...
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Chapter 14
...talking during the entire bus ride each morning and each afternoon. They trade thoughts about music, television, movies, and comics, and aren’t afraid to argue with one another. They discuss what...
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Chapter 16
...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...
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Chapter 19
...through her father’s old records, and is taken back to pleasant memories of listening to music as a child while her mother cleaned the house. She pushes the almost painfully sweet...
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...she’s lying in the dark in front of the living room stereo. They talk about music until both of them start to grow sleepy. Eleanor says she misses Park, and wishes...
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Chapter 21
...slouch low in their seats and hold hands. Eleanor hands Park the tape of Beatles music she made him over the weekend, and they listen to it on the ride. At...
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Chapter 29
...“cartoon character[s],” and continue noticing new things about one another’s faces and bodies. They discuss music and laugh joyfully all the way to school.
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Chapter 39
Lately, Park has been cycling through new music especially fast, listening to everything from punk to New Wave to Elvis Costello. One Thursday...
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Chapter 48
...where Steve and a couple other kids from school are drinking, smoking, and listening to music on a futon. Steve asks Eleanor if she wants him to “kill” her stepdad for...
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Chapter 55
...memories” of Eleanor. Park misses Eleanor all day, every day, and can’t even listen to music in her absence.
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Chapter 56
...Park begins wearing his eyeliner in thick black smudges and listening to loud, angry punk music at full volume to drown out his feelings. He gets a job at a record...
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