Analysis of The Theme of Love in Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell using the Third Person Perspective (Essay Sample)

Name Professor Course Date Analysis of The Theme of Love in Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell using the Third Person Perspective Introduction The literary work Eleanor and Park has several themes. These themes primarily highlight issues that most teenagers face in their growing setting. The themes in the work are love, domestic abuse, body image, bullying, and child abuse. However, the theme of love, which is interracial, stands out. Through the third person perspective, Rainbow Rowell fashions the theme of love with references to other famous works such as Romeo and Juliet as well as the pop culture during the late 1980s. The author achieves the modeling this theme using two teenage characters called Park Sheridan and Eleanor Douglas. The experiences and challenges of these characters create the context for this theme. The uniqueness of this theme is evident in the reality that the author makes it apparent for the reader that the love between Park Sheridan and Eleanor Douglas is their first love. Moreover, the author attempts to challenge the notion of love at first sight by displaying the love between the two characters passing different stages before being a full-blown love relationship. By assuming the spectator view of telling the story from the third person perspective, Rowell creates connection between the reader and the characters in the book. For this reason, the paper purposes to discuss the theme of love in the literary work Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell through exploring the third person point of view used. Eleanor and Park is a love fiction novel accredited to Rainbow Rowell. The author introduces the work in August of 1986, where a journey of love between two teenagers start to blossom. The author presents the two teenagers, Park Sheridan and Eleanor Douglas as from entirely different background. Sheridan is a half-Korean from a middle-income household with caring and loving parents. He is a recluse in school with a preference for comics and music. In contrast, Eleanor Douglas is a Danish-American from an abusive family. The author describes her as being a little overweight. Her home life is challenging based on her troubled life. Her mother and father divorce when she is eight, which forces her mother to remarry, Richie. Richie is an abusive and violent stepfather. His personality results in a tensed relationship with Eleanor Douglas. These challenges and differences between the two characters act as a way of nurturing their love as well as bringing them together to overcome and outgrow their fears. Firstly, the use of the third-person point of view allows Rainbow Rowell the freedom of presenting the theme of love from the different perspectives of both Park Sheridan and Eleanor Douglas. Leitch (64) states that the use of the third person point of view always confers the author an opportunity to shift from the claustrophobia of the first point of view to expand the scope of the issue under analysis. The claim attributes to the reality that the author enjoys the freedom of being inside the minds of multiple characters, in addition to, having the ability to delve deeper into relationships and emotions of the characters. In the novel Eleanor and Park, the author presents the issue of love between the two teenagers from their individual perspectives of the two characters. Through these perspectives, the author enjoys the freedom to tell the story through allotting chapters to the two characters. For this reason, the author allows the reader to move from a limited filter of the theme to view how the two young lovers interpret and react as well as see through their feelings. A compelling instance of the author seeing through the minds and hearts of the two characters is apparent when Park and Eleanor meet for the first time in the school bus to signal their first step of their love blossoming. The instance is visible in the book when author alleges, “Not just new but big and awkward. With crazy hair, bright red on top of curly. And she was dressed… like she wanted people to look at her” (Rowell 8). The reader understands what transpires in the mind of Park, which is only possible because of the third person point of view. Secondly, the use of the third point of view permits Rainbow Rowell to present the theme of love from the authorial voice, which is objective as compared to the utilization of either first or second person perspective. According to Griffith (46), the advantage of using the third point of view is the ability to eliminate the voice of the character by allowing the voice of the author to control the plot, which is objective. The capacity to eliminate the voice of the character attributes to the realism that the author can write about the love between Eleanor and Park in her language, which is the voice of the narrator. As a result, the author eliminates exaggeration as well as ensures that she presents the reality that love is progressive rather than being an orchestration of first sight. The soberness of the truth that love is not a first sight creation is apparent when the author highlights the reaction of Eleanor when she first meets Park. This reaction is noticeable in the work when the narrator alleges, “Eleanor couldn’t tell if the Asian kid who finally let her sit down was one of them, or whether he was just stupid” (Rowell 11). Based on this reaction, it is apparent that Eleanor was least expecting to fall in love with the ‘Asian boy.’ Through the third person point of view, which is the narrator’s voice, the author presents the reality of love to entail first being acquainted with one another, proceeding to friendship and finally confessing of love. It is at a later stage that Park declares his love for Eleanor (Summer 1). Lastly, the use of the third point of view permits the author of Eleanor and Park to engage in more actions of the characters in presenting their love for one another. Rowner (124) avows that the third person point of view permits the author to engage in more actions of the characters because of the distance it creates from the characters and their thoughts. As a result, the author merely focuses on the actions of the characters rather than describing the characters. The use of the third point of view enables the author to present the theme of love through concentrating on actions that underscore the love between Eleanor and Park. Rather...