Applying the Youth lens to Eleanor & Park.

The character of Eleanor is a very accurate description of a troubled teenager, just trying to get by in her home and school environment. She is very realistic about where she stands in her life; about her looks and her home life. This builds a bridge to the youth reader having a lead character with such a firm understanding of where she stands in life, yet not knowing how to escape her surroundings. This realism and very mature understanding of her life suggests that youth readers will be more willing to to relate to and understand her when she does somewhat irrational things. Life ruining away from parks house the first time she visits and her general disdain towards Park at the very beginning of their relationship. Through out the novel we are also bombarded by pop culture references, which, at first may seem a but dated, but non-the less helps to draw the reader in with familiar names and books. This softens the youth reader to the acceptance of the larger themes discussed in the the novel, such as sense of self and social economic problems. Issues that may not draw the youth in upon first glance. There is also a significant amount of growth in the novel, and a general strive to become more adult like form both Eleanor & Park. This can be related to by most youth and can be seen as an attempt to draw them closer to the text. It does so in a way that eases the reader into empathizing with the two by gradually exposing the two to adult concepts, such as driving around town, before making the full plunge of an overnight road trip. How do you think the youth lens applies to Eleanor and park? To Feed?