Rainbow Rowellās book isnāt only racist because she wrote racist characters and described Park in a racist way. The racism goes so much deeper than that. She fetishizes Park, butchers Korean culture, uses racism as a prop, emasculates Park, uses slurs and words with racist connotations to describe Koreans, and so much more.
And before I explain all of this, Iām going to begin by saying that I myself am an overweight 16 year old KOREAN AMERICAN female. Iāve read Eleanor and Park and recently started a blog dedicated to analyzing and talking about the specific forms of racism in the novel. This book shouldāve been made for me. I mean, a fat protagonist and Korean representation? I shouldāve been jumping over the moon!
The reason why you (and many other white people) donāt see the racism in Eleanor and Park is because itās the sneaky kind. The kind that you canāt see or recognize unless youāve gone through it.
Another reason why you might not recognize it is because the protagonist herself, Eleanor, is one of the most racist characters in the book. And I say this because the others (Steve, usually) are blatant racists while Eleanor is not.
Steveās racism is pretty obvious in the book. He basically says all Asians are the same, makes fun of Parkās ethnicity, etc, etc. People like him are pretty easy to spot.
Eleanor, on the other hand, is the kind who I like to call theĀ āGood White Friendā. She is different! She doesnāt think the N word, doesnāt call people slurs, doesnāt believe in stereotypes. That means sheās not racist, right?
Parkās eyes got wide. Well, sort of wide. Sometimes she wondered if the shape of his eyes affected how he saw things.
Maybe Park had paralyzed her with his ninja magic.
āOrientalās for food,ā heād said.
āWhatever, La Choy Boy,ā sheād said back.
(If you donāt know why this is offensive, itās because Oriental is actually a HUGE, disgusting slur that dehumanizes East Asians and Eleanor basically dismisses that and doesnāt give a shit about what is and is not offensive.)
His mom looked exactly like a doll.
(Calling an East Asian woman a doll is a common way to objectify and fetishize her. The term has racist connotations.)
Plus Rowell didnāt research ANYTHING for her book. If she had she wouldāve known that Kung Fu and Tae Kwon Do (both of which Park supposedly takes) are not the same thing, and only Tae Kwon Do is Korean. She would know that Min Dae (Parkās motherās name) is NOT a Korean name. (I donāt even think itās Asian - it sounds like she grabbed random syllables and slammed them together to make an exotic,Ā āKorean-soundingā name.)
And - hereās the kicker - she wouldāve known that Park is a Korean LAST NAME.
And donāt even get me started on Park.
Not only does he hate himself, but he actively wishes he was white. Which I would not have a problem with (because Iāve been there and I know what thatās like. I know what it feels like to look in the mirror and want to claw your own face off because you think your Korean blood makes you hideous) if a) it had been written by someone who HAD GONE THROUGH A SIMILAR EXPERIENCE AND THEREFORE DO IT JUSTICE and b) have Park come to terms with his heritage and learn to love his Korean side.
But this never happens. He continues to hate himself and never embraces his ethnicity. He shames his mother for not completely assimilating (which is bullshit) and envies his brother forĀ ābeing whiteā (when heās not? Just because he looksĀ āwhiteā doesnāt mean he is? God, Rowell fucked over mixed kids too with this - sheās basically saying that if you donāt fit into the stereotypicalĀ āAsianā look that mixed kids canāt consider themselves Asian.)
The only thing that distracts Park from his self-loathing is Eleanor. The only real characteristics he has (besides being sarcastic) is his hatred of his ethnicity and his love for Eleanor. Which might seem romantic at first, but it isnāt healthy.
Why doesnāt Park learn to love himself? The only thing that comes close to that is when he puts on eyeliner but even that doesnāt stop him from hating his Korean blood. (And it reinforces the idea that Asian men canāt be masculine which is a wholeĀ ānother topic that deals with toxic masculinity and how our White-centric, racist media shits on Asian men.)
Parkās whole existence revolves around Eleanor. What is that supposed to mean? Why doesnāt he have any other character traits? Is that all weāre good for?
Rowell fetishizes Park, doesnāt do her research, and completely fucks Koreans over by throwing us a poorly developed, disgusting caricature of ourselves and everyone else congratulates her for it.Ā
Do you know what messages this is sending? Do you know what itās telling people like me?
Itās not telling me, the fat girl, that Iām worthy of love.
Itās not telling me, the teenager, that life is hard.
Itās telling me, the Korean, that people like me donāt deserve to have proper representation.
Itās telling me, the Korean, that the only way for me to be in a relationship is to devote my life to someone else.
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