The second installment of Eleanor and Park has gotten a lot deeper into their relationship with each other, and deeper into their family lives.

Richie, Eleanor’s stepfather, is abusing Eleanor’s mother. There is nothing that Eleanor can do about her current situation between her mother and stepfather other than continue to lay low. Richie is an alcoholic with anger problems. For Christmas Dinner Eleanor’s mother makes a fairly large meal, one they’re not used to, and for desert Eleanor’s mother gives everyone rice pudding, Richie gets angry because he wants pumpkin pie. When he discovers that pumpkin pie wasn’t apart of the meal plan he begins cussing and yelling, and throws his bowl of the rice pudding at the wall and says he’s going out to get pumpkin pie, after he makes this big scene all the family does is clean up the mess and then watch movies. That part in particular was unsettling to me that he goes as far as throwing things and their only reaction to an outburst like that is to pick up the pieces and go about their day. It has become a norm for them to deal with those types of tantrums on a regular basis that they don’t even react to it anymore. It’s unfortunate when toxic and abuse lifestyles become normal for some people. Reading more into Eleanor’s person life I didn’t know whether to be upset with the mother or feel sorry for her. She feels she’s in a position where she cant leave, and that she’s stuck, but you also are upset with her because she continuously puts her children in danger by keeping this man around who cant control his anger, that shoots off a gun at kids playing outside too loudly, and that throws a type writer at a wall because Eleanor is typing on it and he doesn’t like the noises due to his hangover. Its hard to relate to her character because I’ve never known anyone and haven’t been myself, in that position, but if her kids are in constant distress wouldn’t it be better to leave? Or maybe when you’ve been beaten down so much you lose clarity of how things should actually be.

 

Park’s father holds a special place in my heart. Even though he is hard on Park and the two don’t really see eye to eye, I think he means well. He is so understanding and nice to Eleanor and shows that he cares about her in a fatherly type of way. He says something about knowing Eleanor’s stepfather and he knows how Richie is, and that if its easier for Eleanor to be at Park’s house than it is to be at her own, he would rather her spend more time at their house. He is an army man, and a man of a different era, his definition of what a man should be is different than Park’s generation. Park is so different than him, and not exactly a manly man, which when he wears the eyeliner, and when he says things he does is “gay” kind of shows the “metro sexual” side of Park which I think is hard for the father to digest. As a whole I think Park’s father loves him and has his best interest at heart, which makes him a loveable character in the book to me.

Now, from my previous post I talked about young love. As I continue reading my stance on the entire topic still stands. The way that they feel about each other and the feeling and excitement that they get from each other’s presence is how all relationships should feel. As we continue to get older we lose sight of what love actually is, we become more jaded as we go through more relationships and have our hearts broken. Which is why I think young love is one of the most special and purest things a young person can experience. Them kissing, they never want it to end; they love holding hands, he begs for her to stay around. As we get older those things don’t feel the same when we start to date someone. We don’t think something as simple as holding hands is that significant, which is why reading this book is so nice, and so nostalgic, it reminds us of what love actually is and what its supposed to feel like.