Eleanor And Park Banned

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Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell is not only a story of two coming of age teens, but a story about hate, abuse, bullying, and above all, love. The main characters, Eleanor and Park first meet on the bus, it is Eleanor's first day and nobody is willing to share their seat. Reluctantly Park picks up his bag and scoots over, all while saying “Jesus-fuck, just sit down”(Rowell 9). From this moment on the two slowly start to become friends, sharing music, comic books, and eventually even dating. Despite having great characters and a fantastic plot, this book still contains controversial and disturbing matter that has caused it to be loved, hated and even challenged. The book Eleanor and Park should not be banned because it …show more content…

In a review written by Marshall University parents called the book “Pornographic” and careless in its “treatment of sexuality” (Banned Books: Eleanor & Park). Throughout the book there are multiple small sexual comments made, but the worst one wasn’t spoken... “She’d already finished her homework. Some creep had written do i make you wet on her geography book, so she spent a really long time covering it up with a black ink pen” (Rowell 75). These words being written anonymously on her book make Eleanor feel violated and disgusting, so someone can only imagine how a parent or school supervisor might feel reading it. According to BBC News, “For most challenged books, the issue is usually sex or sexuality” (Rohrer). Another way sexual content is featured in this book is between Eleanor and Park themselves, during a steamy scene between the two, Park becomes concerned, “Once it started to get dark, he felt like his parents could walk in at any minute, like they should have been home a long time ago and he didn’t want them to find him like this, with his knee between Eleanor’s legs and his hand on her hip and his mouth as far as it could reach down the neck of her sweater” (Rowell 252). Although many mature scenes are included throughout this book, sex is not directly featured. Eleanor and Park should only be …show more content…

It has been loved because of its great characters that allow us a first person point of view into their two very different lives, the young love that forms between them that faces lots of ups and downs, and the young dumb humor experienced by young teens everyday. It has been hated for its vulgar language spoken by the young high school characters, the bullying that takes place in the school, and the sexual content between characters. Although it is usually said that love trumps hate, that is not necessarily the situation with this book. Despite having great characters and a fantastic plot, this book still contains controversial and disturbing matter that has caused it to be loved, hated and even challenged. The book Eleanor and Park should not be banned because it contains relevant topics and situations that teens face

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