Rainbow Rowell’s book isn’t 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, I’m going to begin by saying that I myself am an overweight 16 year old KOREAN AMERICAN female. I’ve 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 should’ve been made for me. I mean, a fat protagonist and Korean representation? I should’ve been jumping over the moon!
The reason why you (and many other white people) don’t see the racism in Eleanor and Park is because it’s the sneaky kind. The kind that you can’t see or recognize unless you’ve 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.
Steve’s racism is pretty obvious in the book. He basically says all Asians are the same, makes fun of Park’s ethnicity, etc, etc. People like him are pretty easy to spot.
Eleanor, on the other hand, is the kind who I like to call the “Good White Friend”. She is different! She doesn’t think the N word, doesn’t call people slurs, doesn’t believe in stereotypes. That means she’s not racist, right?
Park’s 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.
“Oriental’s for food,” he’d said.
“Whatever, La Choy Boy,” she’d said back.
(If you don’t know why this is offensive, it’s because Oriental is actually a HUGE, disgusting slur that dehumanizes East Asians and Eleanor basically dismisses that and doesn’t 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 didn’t research ANYTHING for her book. If she had she would’ve 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 (Park’s mother’s name) is NOT a Korean name. (I don’t even think it’s Asian - it sounds like she grabbed random syllables and slammed them together to make an exotic, “Korean-sounding” name.)
And - here’s the kicker - she would’ve known that Park is a Korean LAST NAME.
And don’t 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 I’ve been there and I know what that’s 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 for “being white” (when he’s not? Just because he looks “white” doesn’t mean he is? God, Rowell fucked over mixed kids too with this - she’s basically saying that if you don’t fit into the stereotypical “Asian” look that mixed kids can’t 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 isn’t healthy.
Why doesn’t Park learn to love himself? The only thing that comes close to that is when he puts on eyeliner but even that doesn’t stop him from hating his Korean blood. (And it reinforces the idea that Asian men can’t be masculine which is a whole ‘nother topic that deals with toxic masculinity and how our White-centric, racist media shits on Asian men.)
Park’s whole existence revolves around Eleanor. What is that supposed to mean? Why doesn’t he have any other character traits? Is that all we’re good for?
Rowell fetishizes Park, doesn’t 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.
Do you know what messages this is sending? Do you know what it’s telling people like me?
It’s not telling me, the fat girl, that I’m worthy of love.
It’s not telling me, the teenager, that life is hard.
It’s telling me, the Korean, that people like me don’t deserve to have proper representation.
It’s 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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