Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park

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A tremendous step forward in the revelation of family dysfunctionality in mainstream society is the viewing of a literary character grow up in an unstable household, as seen in the 2013 novel, Eleanor & Park, written by Rainbow Rowell. The chapters rotate between the storylines of Eleanor and of Park, detailing how they went from strangers with complicated individual lives to falling in love. Eleanor’s complicated life included the estrangement from her family after being kicked out of the house for a year by her step-father. The novel’s narrative in the chapters titled “Eleanor” is composed of vivid descriptions of the teenager’s inadequate environment in her parent’s home after she was hostily welcomed back. Eleanor spends a lot of time focusing on her hatred towards her step father and his actions, “She woke up to shouting. Richie shouting. Eleanor …show more content…
She sounded like she’d been crying for a long time -- she must be completely out of her head if she was letting them hear her cry like that.” (Rowell, 48) The mention of verbal abuse from family members in literature is unconventional, however revolutionary in terms that readers can now experience through perusal how it feels to be in a situation as detremental as condescension, without having to experience it first-hand. The former idea that a novel surrounding a complicated family life is undesirable and unwanted is being ceased. In more modern times, there has been an increase in awareness that dysfunctional families are widespread; this enlightenment has created a keenness in people to learn about and prevent the negative results before they become behavioral and emotional changes in children. This story is a great resource for understanding an example of one aspect of a flawed family and how it can affect someone at such a young age, especially with their familial relationships, “She thought they’d throw her a ticker tape parade. She thought it would be a big
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perfect titles for their books based on plot, characterization and theme; however, every author approaches this concept in a unique way. At times a title can seem bland and irrelevant, but can turn out to be meaningful and sincere. Rainbow Rowell’s novel Eleanor and Park has a very straightforward title. Although the title is concise and to the point, it’s simplicity can reveal a lot about the plot and characters. However, that is not the case for Laurie Halse Anderson’s novel Speak. The reader progressively…

Words 464 - Pages 2