Eleanor and Park: Inquiry Questions

The book Eleanor and Park is told through two perspectives and is the story of an unconventional high school couple formed during the 1980s. It hits many different social issues from stereotyping to domestic violence and shows insight on to how teens interpret and deal with these conflicts. The relationship is not perfect and really exposes the truth of love; its not always a pretty and exciting thing. Overall I believe that showing both perspectives gave the reader a fair understanding of sides of the relationship

So what happens when these two voices and perspectives get to stand out more so than the other characters? I believe that being able to see each individual’s understanding and beliefs of their relationship makes the reading experience more intimate. If only one side is shown then there is an element of mystery as to what the other character was thinking in a certain event or situation. In many books characters may act out or do irrational things, but seeing their perspective could have helped us better understand both sides. Seeing Eleanor perspective in this book helps highlight her opinions on park and her dysfunctional home life. Seeing Richie’s , her abusive stepfather, perspective could help us better understand his mood swings and why he hurts Eleanors mom. Seeing Park’s perspective helps us understand how he feels toward his family and his interactions with the popular group. Seeing his mother’s perspective would expose her opinion on Eleanor and why she looks down on her.

Would Eleanor and Park’s point of views be overshadowed if others were introduced? I believe that they would. The whole feel of this book is to actively be a part of this relationship that is going on and having a healthy balance of perspectives. Introducing a new perspective would be like introducing another person to a couple. It just doesn’t work. I have read books with five perspectives before and the relationships between the characters became slurred and not the main priority. The extra perspectives are just not necessary. If the book was not about these two people being in a relationship but formed in some other way, I think that it would be interesting to see into some of the other characters minds and how they react and take part in things throughout the story, but a couple should be a couple of perspectives. Two to be exact.

Overall, I think that the perspectives used in the book Eleanor and park portrayed the different outlooks of each character and as individuals brought them together. It takes a well balanced view on each event that happens to them in the relationship and brings their thoughts together as one. I think letting these two perspectives stand out more helps their relationship be the main focus in the plot and if other perspectives were added, it would muddle the true motivation and point of the story. This book has a great uses of perspectives which actually adds to the story and is all in all an amazing book.

SOLD

The book Sold deals with a young girls struggle as she is forced into a sex slavery business and the hardships of living within poverty stricken Nepal. This book is written in verse which makes it poetically beautiful and overall a stunning book. Lakshmi lives on her family’s farm in a small nepalese village. When one day her selfish step father brings home a woman who evokes glamour and mystery, Lakshmi knows that something is going to change; but she never guessed this. Soon finding herself in the backstreets of India she is jailed and sold for sex, only receiving a tiny portion of the profits she makes everyday. As she finds and loses friends, has her ups and downs, in the end Lakshmi succeeds in finding hope.

Throughout the story I feel that the perspective of the father or of Mumtaz (the sex slavery leader) were major parts that were missing. I am not proposing that the book be from three perspectives but that maybe a section of dialogue could further explain the characters motives. Being able to see better into either of these characters would provide much more insight on why things in the plot are happening. Both characters play big parts in the story so they will affect how her story plays out. The father is the one who gets her into the situation in the first place so understanding why he would put his daughter into such a horrible thing, or seeing if he was genuinely doing this to help his family or not would be interesting. Mumtaz also holds Lakshmi's future in her hands because she can decide whether or not Lakshmi can get the necessary things she needs to survive like food and water. She is never really highlighted so seeing if she enjoyed her job or if she really hates it would be important.

Lakshmis point of view is highlighted solely throughout the book. I believe that this is common when writing in verse because it is hard to get multiple peoples perspectives in when trying to deeply understand one character’s emotions. It would feel crowded and the main point of view, Lakshmi's, would be drowned by others views. I think for this specific story the perspective is fine as is but having more dialogue with her father and mumtaz would give her more of an open perspective.

At the end of the book, an american who appeared to be a client but was there to try and expose the sex slavery business appear at her doorstep. We never know if she is successfully saved or if any of the other girls were saved. I think that this conclusion to the story was slightly incorrect because I do not think that they would trade a sex slavery house just for one girl. Even the slightest hint that anyone else would be saved could definitely help the story. The author might not want us to know that because it is Lakshmi's perspective and if it is being true and honest then maybe she didn’t know what was going to happen. The perspective of Lakshmi can’t just suddenly know the ending to her story because in real life she doesn't know. You could say the perspective is rolling with the punches.

Overall, the author could have provided more insight on the overall story by adding some form of others opinions on her situation. I don’t think any major structural changes need to be made to the perspective, just doing smaller things to show what a character’s reaction to something can help the plot. I feel the poetic elegance of the entire piece would be threatened if any other perspectives were added in first person to the story. The book Sold has very little things that are needing significant change and is overall a wonderful story, but would be stronger if more perspective details were added.