71 pages • 2 hours read
Rainbow RowellEleanor and Park
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
“A Dream Deferred”
Eleanor’s recitation of Langston Hughes’s masterful poem “A Dream Deferred” in Mr. Stressman’s English class foreshadows the events that occur at the close of the novel. “A Dream Deferred” deals with the theme of how dreams never come to fruition, and in a sense this perfectly describes the ultimate reality of Park and Eleanor’s relationship: they had a wonderful love blossoming but it is ultimately deferred due to circumstances beyond their control. By all accounts, Park and Eleanor’s love is sweet, innocent, and tender, but their “dream” would be ultimately “deferred” as a result of Richie’s disgusting treatment of Eleanor. Park is extremely impressed by Eleanor’s initial recitation of the poem, so the symbol of their love’s final downfall is also an event that serves to kindle a spark in their blossoming relationship.
Park and Eleanor’s Mix-tapes
Quite simply, Park and Eleanor’s mix-tapes represent the love that each one feels for the other. One day on the bus, Park notices that Eleanor has a song title etched onto her notebook, but when he asks her about it she claims she’s never heard it before. Park thinks this is silly, so he goes home that evening and makes Eleanor a mix-tape of that particular song, as well as several of his other favorites. As a result, they start making each other mix-tapes on a weekly if not daily basis. The tapes come to be another form of communication between the couple, but they also come to represent the young couple’s desire to share their worlds with each other. At the end of the book, Park sends Eleanor mix-tapes on regular basis, which suggests that he still loves her, but she never listens to them. Her refusal to listen to Park’s tapes in the closing chapters of the narrative is part of Eleanor’s attempt to move on from Park’s love altogether.
The Stick Shift
Park’s family owns a stick-shift truck, which is notoriously hard to handle for inexperienced drivers. Park’s father repeatedly takes Park out for drives in an effort to get Park to learn how to drive the stick-shift, but Park is consistently unable to drive the truck properly. Eventually, Park’s inability to drive the truck becomes quite annoying for Park’s father, and Park starts to feel inadequate. The stick-shift comes to symbolize Park’s inferiority, at least as he sees it. After Park decides he is going to drive Eleanor to St. Paul, he tries to slip out of the house unnoticed but his father catches him and makes him explain what’s going on. Park tells him that Eleanor has to escape Richie, and so his dad says he can drive Eleanor but only if he uses the stick-shift to do so. Park’s father watches proudly as Park pulls smoothly out of the driveway and continues on his way.
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By Rainbow Rowell
