59 pages • 1 hour read
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
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BetaChapter 41-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 41 Summary
HR has mandated that Eleanor ease back into work over a series of half-days. After Friday morning of her first week, she meets Raymond at the cafe for lunch. Eleanor has printed articles about the fire. She prepares to face them with her friend beside her. She pulls the articles out of a manila envelope she took from the office.
The first article is entitled “‘Pretty but deadly’ kiddie killer ‘fooled us all,’ neighbors say” (320). The neighbors quoted in the article say Eleanor and Marianne were polite and well-spoken but that they showed signs of abuse from their mother (whose real name is Sharon Smyth).
The second article, “Maida Vale murder latest: two dead, plucky orphan recovers” (321), reports that young Eleanor has recovered from her injuries from the fire. It also says that Eleanor’s Mummy, Sharon, died at the scene of her crime. Sharon sedated and restrained both of her daughters before setting the fire, then attempted to escape before succumbing to smoke inhalation. Eleanor escaped but re-entered the house, attempting to save Marianne from inside a locked wardrobe.
Epilogue Summary
Eleanor and Raymond sit in silence for a while. He asks if she’s okay. Eleanor says she will keep seeing Dr. Temple and working through the past. She admits that she has pretended her mother was alive since the fire. She also says she’s truly fine after reading the articles.
Eleanor sees a woman running after her dog and comments that Marianne loved dogs. Raymond says he wishes he had known the whole story sooner so he could have helped. He expresses sympathy that Eleanor has endured this trauma alone for so long.
Eleanor replies that she is related to a famous “‘monster’” (324) and, as such, was forgotten by the public. She also says she has requested her Social Services files so that she can have all the information possible about her background. Raymond expresses more sympathy, and Eleanor replies that she survived, which is what matters most.
As they leave lunch, Eleanor shares that this weekend, she is taking Glen to the vet and persuading a safari park to host the office Christmas lunch. Raymond asks if she wants to attend the concert he referenced over email, and she says yes. They hug, and Eleanor kisses him on the cheek goodbye, then makes her way home.
Chapter 41-Epilogue Analysis
In the final section of the novel, Eleanor faces the truth about her past. Like the Social Services form earlier in the story, the newspaper articles provide an external perspective on the narrator, revealing details that have remained hidden to the reader. Most important is that her mother died in the fire and that Eleanor has pretended otherwise. This casts prior chapters in a new light, as the reader reassesses every alleged phone call with Mummy. It would seem that Eleanor has kept her mother alive in her mind because she felt so guilty that she could not save her sister. When Eleanor ends contact with her Mummy in an earlier chapter, she in fact decides to terminate a long-held pattern of self-contempt and embark on a new life of self-compassion and -acceptance.
Eleanor assures Raymond that she’s fine, a word she has used in various ways throughout the novel to cover up her unhappiness and appear normal. In her narration, however, she assures the reader that she is indeed fine and ready to take on her new life. Rather than spending the weekend alone, she will take care of her cat and keep arranging the Christmas lunch for her coworkers. She has a new friend in Raymond, a new outlook on others, and a commitment to caring for herself.
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