Eleanor and Park Post Reading Post

“Saturdays are the worst, Mondays are the best.”

This quote is hard to understand at first if haven't first read the novel. If you have then you know that this has to do the with the problems that come with being "young and in love" and challenges that are faced.

In the novel Eleanor and Park wild-haired problematic Eleanor falls for an Asian kid that goes to her school named Park. The only problem is that life throws a myriad of obstacles at the both of them. Eleanor isn't as privileged as the other children at her school one prime example being that she doesn't have a telephone.Eleanor live very humbly in a tiny home and a two bedroom home where she shares a room with her four siblings.Park was her escape. For Eleanor falling in love was the easy part sustaining it wasn't as easy as she once thought it'd be. Saturdays are the worst in that sense because it means that she has to spend the day locked away in her own personal prison where the warden is her step-dad, Richie. Mondays were the best because she gets to spend time with Park on the bus and at school. To Eleanor spending time with Park is the way she can be free and she can be herself around him. Spending time at home for her is just miserable she has no voice that is higher than a whisper. Her own mom can't even protect her from the person that's hurting her most because if she did the outcomes would be very bad for her. In the end the very reason why a Saturday for Eleanor is horrible is the very reason that she ends up leaving her life behind.

In my life this quote has a very less traumatic and morose back-story and it all comes down to me loving school. Saturdays aren't typically "the worse" but they can be. School is my passion I love coming everyday because I know that my hard work and dedication will get me somewhere in life. Mondays to me are hard but at the same time there's a beauty to knowing that you have a whole week  of new discoveries, learning, and conquering something new ahead of you.

“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”
― Mark Twain

Eleanor and Park Pre-Reading Post

Thinking about all areas of your life, write a thorough explanation of the difference between "like" and "love."

They're both a warm and caring feeling for someone or something . I feel that there are distinct differences between the two as well. It is sometimes hard to tell which is which however one is a lot stronger than the other.

 In life I have liked a boy. I could've sworn it was true love. In my life (so far) I have loved a selected few.What is love really though? The dictionary version defines it as "An intense feeling of deep affection." My definition of love to me would be having care and compassion. Love is everything and nothing at all. When you love something it is blurry and clear at the same time and is never tainted no matter what. And what I mean by that is that when you love, what you love has always been there and is apart of you. Love is blurry because you can never see any wrong in anything the person does "love is blind." Love never fades.

 Like is the feeling you get before love. I feel that like is not as deep as love. When you like something or someone you approve of it you see something in it that you find beautiful and intoxicating. Like is the feeling that you get just when you start falling into the bottomless black hole that we call love. For example I have friends that I've made over the years. At first it was the stage of like. I liked the way that they carried themselves and their personality. As time has progressed I find myself actually loving them for who they are and for their compassion towards me.

 In the novel Eleanor and Park I believe we will see a lot of love and like play out. It is a love story and so far there is not any connections I see in them yet. That's the amazing part about love it's almost like fate. I believe that in the novel the two main characters will have an amazing "star crossed lovers" story.

 "There's a thin line between love and hate" -Anonymous