Where It All Goes Down
Omaha, Nebraska, 1986
In Eleanor & Park, the time period of our story is nearly as important as the place: 1986. Rowell constantly sprinkles references to mid-80s pop culture and music into her book, but we get the feeling that she chose the '80s for more than just a nostalgia-fest. Why the '80s? Well, for one thing, she's said in interviews that she grew up in the '80s, so she has strong emotional ties to the decade. The music and comics that Eleanor and Park love are definitely a big part of the story as well.
But more than that, this story couldn't really happen in an era of cell phones and social media. Eleanor's isolation from Park is sometimes a problem because of her family's lack of a landline—something that would almost never happen today. It's a big deal when Eleanor goes to her dad's house to babysit, because she gets to actually call Park on the phone, and in an era without call waiting, Park freaks out waiting for his mom to get off the phone so he can talk to Eleanor.
All of these little details contribute to Eleanor and Park's desperation to see each other. And at the end of the book, Park doesn't have Eleanor's new phone number, and can't reach out to call her. Would we feel the same sense of drama if the two of them could just text each other at all hours? Probably not.
Which brings us to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1986. Rowell herself is from Omaha, and still lives there. She paints a picture of Omaha's neighborhoods, from "the Flats," where Eleanor and Park live, to the much more vibrant downtown, with its record and comic book shops. Eleanor and Park's neighborhood really contributes to the theme of being different which pervades this story. Park tells us:
If you weren't born in the Flats (if your family didn't go back ten generations, if your parents didn't have the same great-great-grandparents), you were an outsider. (37.7)
Eleanor and Park are outsiders in the Flats for different reasons. Eleanor's obviously not a native, and has spent some time away from the area. In Park's case, the Flats is an entirely white neighborhood, Park's mom being the exception to the rule, so Park definitely doesn't look like the other kids.
Park's family is also much better off than a lot of the other families—Eleanor feels like her family at least fits in there. "The only upside to living in this effed-up neighborhood was that everybody else was effed-up, too," she thinks. "The other kids might hate Eleanor for being big and weird, but they weren't going to hate on her for having a broken family and a broke-down house. That was kind of the rule around here" (21.121). Here, the Flats neighborhood helps us to understand the ways in which Eleanor and Park feel like misfits—or the unfortunate ways they fit in.