Eleanor and Park Ending

                All in all, I thought that Eleanor and Park was a good book, though the ending is really quite sad. I understand why Eleanor needed to leave, to get away from Richie and this entire family that just seems to have fallen asleep to how messed up their situation is.

                It was talked about in class, what it would take for Eleanor’s mom to leave Richie, and I am of the opinion that unless something absolutely horrible happened, it just was not very likely to happen. She is too stuck- the known devil is, in her mind, better than starting over again and taking the risks involved in starting completely new again. She’s too tired- too defeated- and too willing to look the other way at things unacceptable because of it- because she just doesn’t have it in her to really face and fight it.

                “Her mom actually kissed Eleanor good-bye at the door and told her to have fun, and to call the neighbors if things got weird with her dad. Right, Eleanor thought, I'll be sure to call you if Dad's fiancée calls me a bitch and then makes me use a bathroom without a door. Oh, wait…” (19.5)

                Her mom is in some sort of denial that is just not going to be helpful to Eleanor. As I said, the only way she probably would even really consider leaving Richie is probably if he did something absolutely horrible to one of her children- and Eleanor shouldn’t have to sit around and wait for that to happen. So she leaves on her own. It is sad that leaving is what is necessary, but I think for Eleanor’s sake it is. 

                 It is sad, Park and Eleanor had gotten really close- but even with that… I think at the end of it all it was probably best for Eleanor to leave. Park, and maybe this is oversimplifying things, but I think Park almost became a crutch for her. He was the one person who kept her going- she even says multiple times things like ‘she couldn’t live without him’ and ‘he was her whole world’ and things like that. It probably just is not healthy for her to be that dependent on one person, and it is almost unfair to Park- that is a lot of responsibility to put on one person’s shoulders. I think that away from Park, Eleanor can sort of develop on her own. 

                Anyways, it is a sad ending, but at the same time it isn’t because in some ways- it’s a new beginning for both of them- but especially Eleanor-and in my opinion she really needs one.

Adolescence Throughout Time

                I thought what we talked about in class, about things being different for teenagers now as opposed to a hundred plus years ago was interesting.

                We seem to have predetermined ideas about what life as a teenager, what going through that period entails. But looking back, we can see that what we think about teenagers now might really have not always been the case.

                The whole period of adolescence, where the idea is that this is the time that people start to develop as individuals/become independent by doing things such as experimenting with drugs and alcohol and rebelling against the world around them- that’s something that really is not a given. Back in the day, adolescents had other things to worry about. Many of them had to focus on things that were more pressing and urgent- like finding a job and supporting a family. Even those who hadn’t moved away to start their own lives by their late teens were still facing a very strict and traditional society, one that just really didn’t have much room and tolerance for rebellion or really much space for developing as an individual.

                Maybe it is that people have become more tolerant of the actions that we now associate with teenagers- society has given them… space in a way. In this way I think it has helped society as a whole by letting teenagers comb through options on their own- instead of forcing decisions directly down their throats. While in the past you might expect to find mostly farmers and housewives- people focused immediately on survival- on the basics- today the diversity of the developed world has allowed people to branch out and create and explore. It is unlikely that Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg would have ever done what they had if, at the age of say 13, they were taken out of school and sent to work in a field.

                So really, I think adolescence- the ideas that we have of it, are actually really important. And it speaks to where we are as a society, open and continuously developing.

                Eleanor and Parks coming of age, and stories like it, carry that importance down in relatable reminders as to just what adolescence means to people. Like Romeo and Juliet, and many other stories of youth- people just I think reading about that- a time where they had options and their whole futures at their own fingertips.

Eleanor and Park and Romeo and Juliet

I forgot just how much I loved this book. The last post I wrote was from what I remembered from when I had read it before, and then some really generic stuff about poverty that I found on the internet- partly because I forgot just how much I enjoyed this book the first time I read it.

    The characters are so real, so complex, so nuanced for a young adult book. The situations that they are thrown in are so ordinary and so relatable- tragic and horible in some ways- but not so much as to immediately stand out as something affecting or unlivable. But then you see them as individuals and you see them being shaped, and attempting to shape, all that is going on around them, and it is powerful.

    I love Eleanor. I love Park. I love what Park does for Eleanor, for cynical Eleanor who finds things such as-"Love at first sight" and "Romeo and Juliet" too good to be true.

"Romeo and Juliet are just two rich kids who've always gotten every little thing they want. And now, they think they want each other."
"They're in love…" Mr. Stessman said, clutching his heart.
"They don't even know each other."
"It was love at first sight."
"It was 'Oh my God, he's so cute' at first sight… it's Shakespeare making fun of love." (10.41-45)

    Here is Eleanor, this girl who feels- as I kind of see it- as if she is somehow extraneous. Unnecessary. Every moment I spent reading Eleanors story, and how lowly she thought of herself, something got to me. She was so lonely. Here is this girl overlooked, and here she is trying to convince herself that she deserves to be seen- while dealing with people telling her again and again, through the cruelty and thoughtlessness of their actions, that it is best for her to just be invisible.

    Her mother is involved with her own life, she has sort have gone into a survival mode herself- one that just does not have space for Eleanor as a person. Really, at one point it didnt have space for Eleanor at all. What it must have been like for Eleanor, to be rejected in such a way by probably the one person she hopes to be her steady lifeline, and then to come home and realize that- the family went on fine without her- that she maybe really wasnt needed at all.

    But when Eleanor walked in the house, it was like her siblings didn't recognize her. (4.3)

    That is why when Park comes, when Park starts even just being kind to her- it is hard for her to take- because it is hard for her to trust it. At one point in the book even she mentions that she knows she would be devestated, and was constantly expecting- constantly on edge- to the possibility of him breaking off his contact. Because she was alone, but with Park, because Park cares about her- Park thinks she matters. And that terrifies her, because if she starts to believe it and then builds herself up with it and something DOES happen- like the friendship deteriorating, it will only mean that there will be farther for her to fall.

Park touched her hands like they were something rare and precious, like her fingers were intimately connected to the rest of her body. Which, of course, they were. It was hard to explain. He made her feel like more than the sum of her parts. (16.7) 

    So she tests him. She gives him bits and pieces, holds much of herself back but not all, to see whether or not he rejects her. And by rejects- I mean rejects her as a person- rejects who she is as a person, who she is trying to be- because if she gives too much, if she trusts him too much and then that goes sour and he does reject her- it might make her feel as if she were worthless.

"Because I'm interested. It's like you've got all these weird barriers set up, like you only want me to have access to this tiny part of you..."
"Yes," she said, crossing her arms. "Barriers. Caution tape. I'm doing you a favor."
"Don't," he said. "I can handle it." (33.51-53)

    But as the book goes on her confidence grows- because Park becomes her light in the dark really. Makes her feel as if she is not alone, that if someone can care about her then maybe there is something worth caring about- no matter her physical appearance, her poverty, any of that. And it is sad that this confidence has to come from Park initially, it is sad that Eleanor is in such a situation that seems to be the case- but the fact that it does grow- and that it is recognizable throughout the book- I think is great, and I think it is what makes this such a good story.

Eleanor and Park

We are reading the book 'Eleanor and Park', by Rainbow Rowell this week in class.

This book deals with many different themes, including poverty, friendship, and struggling.

We are given two very different characters; Park, who comes from a fairly stable background- a good home, and Eleanor- who comes from a more seemingly more challenged background.

Because of the struggles of her background, Eleanor carries over many less than favorable aspects from it with her to school every day- and these make it very hard for her to make friends. They make it challenging to have any sort of social life at all. Although her home situation is in no way her fault, she is the one who is left to face the consequences of it. She is tormented.

Park is, on the other hand- while not exactly popular, is not a social outcast like Eleanor. But, even Park, who time and again later on in the book is shown to be a very kind character, has a hard time accepting Eleanor initially. It takes him a long time to get beyond the facts of what Eleanor seems to represent to others- poverty, undesirability, and all else looked down upon- and actually begin to see Eleanor as a human being. This kind of shows that- there are probably certain presumptions and stereotypes we all carry around with us that impact us in ways that we might not always really want to recognize as- unfair.

Anyways, I am enjoying the book so far. I like both of the characters and want to see where the plot- and how the relationship between Eleanor and Park continues to develop. They have a very interesting and natural feeling relationship that I am glad to see that Park proves to be very much possible. That it is possible to put down prejudice, and just judge-or recognize- a person for who they actually happen to be.

 Here are some sources that describe just what prejudice is:

http://www.understandingprejudice.org/

https://gadflyonthewallblog.wordpress.com/2015/11/18/prejudice-of-poverty-why-americans-hate-the-poor-and-worship-the-rich/

http://www.simplypsychology.org/prejudice.html