Eleanor & Park Chapter 3 Summary

Park

  • Park expects Steve to give him a hard time for letting Eleanor sit down, but Steve is still on his martial arts kick, bad pun not intended.
  • Turns out Park knows a lot about martial arts, by the way, "because his dad was obsessed with martial arts, not because his mom was Korean" (3.3).
  • Park can't deal with leaving Eleanor to fend for herself at the back of the bus, and he "hated himself for thinking like this" (3.6).
  • Despite this, he's kind of happy Eleanor is around, because he imagines he'd be a target for Steve, Mikey, and Tina's bullying if she wasn't there.
  • Eleanor was in Park's English class earlier in the day, where she'd read a poem aloud. Mr. Stessman, their teacher, had Eleanor read a poem about eating by Emily Dickinson, which Park found totally insensitive. Mr. Stessman loved Eleanor's reading, saying, "That's a voice that arrives on a chariot drawn by dragons" (3.30).
  • Park can't figure out how to get rid of Eleanor on the bus, so he just puts on his headphones. Eleanor sits down next to Park, and they don't talk, much to Park's relief.