Friday, August 1, 2014

Summer Reading: Eleanor & Park Entry III


He’d stopped trying to bring her back.

She’d only came back when she felt like it, in dreams and lies and broken-down déjà vu.

Like, he’d been driving to work, and he’d see a girl with red hair standing on the corner- and he’d swear, for half a choking moment, that it was her.

Then he’d see that the girl’s hair was more blonde than red.

And that she was holding a cigarette… And wearing a Sex Pistols T-shirt.

Eleanor hated the Sex Pistols.

Eleanor…

Standing behind him until he turned his head. Lying next to him just before he woke up. Making everyone seem drabber and flatter and never good enough.

Eleanor ruining everything.

Eleanor, gone.

He’d stopped trying to bring her back.



What we immediately understand from the passage is that Eleanor plays a role in the life of man narrating the story. As a reader I feel a sense of urgency to ask 'why?'. Why would he stop trying to bring this Eleanor back? This makes me want to read more to find answers but this isn’t the main reason I chose this passage. The main reason I chose this part of the story to share is because it is dynamic enough that it tugs a little on the heart strings even when you don’t know who the characters are yet. It makes you curious to know who ‘he’ is. It makes you question: Who is Eleanor to this he? How did Eleanor ruin everything? How is she gone? You can feel sadness eluding in the words when the ‘he’ in the passage describes someone that is no longer with him. Human beings naturally remember sad moments than happy ones. Happiness is like a rush of dopamine and we always want more while sadness is like a shock to your system and is hard to forget. I found this to be the most painful and relatable part of the story. We all know what it’s like to lose something. It immediately becomes the most important thing to us and we suddenly have the urge to want it back.    

No comments:

Post a Comment