Eileen

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2015

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Death Masks

One of Eileen’s coping mechanisms is putting on what she calls a “death mask.” This is to hide her emotions from the people she interacts with. The death mask that Eileen wears foreshadows her own “death” in X-ville. When Eileen finally leaves X-ville, she describes herself as driving with her death mask so as to not reveal her excitement, the exhilaration of finally being free.

Each of the characters in Eileen wear a mask. Rebecca wears the mask of false friendship and Eileen’s father that of an upstanding citizen. Leonard Polk, like Eileen, wears a death mask. He is also imprisoned by society in a role he doesn’t want. Both Eileen and Leonard wear death masks to preserve their true identity and protect their independence from social and gender roles.

Eileen’s Car

Eileen drives her family’s old Dodge with a broken exhaust pipe. She does not bother to get the car fixed, though she hopes that it will somehow help her escape X-ville. The car symbolizes the broken and toxic state of the Dunlop family. Eileen’s struggle against carbon monoxide poisoning reflects the toxicity of her family. Though Eileen hopes the car will make it out of X-ville, she abandons it on the side of the road with Mrs. Polk inside. In so doing, Eileen frees herself from this symbol of family life and the gendered roles that Mrs. Polk lived by. The car is the last piece of X-ville that Eileen must remove from her life to start over in New York City.

Icicles

Eileen is set in December of 1964 in a New England town characterized by heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures. Icicles form over the door to Eileen’s house, and feature in her suicidal and homicidal fantasies. The icicles symbolize the threat that staying in X-ville poses for Eileen, particularly in regard to social and gendered confinement. Eileen’s home is a prison for her; she disregards her role as the woman of the home by not cleaning or truly caring for her father. Her frequent fantasies about being impaled by the icicles above the door reveal Eileen’s deep fear of being killed by social and gender obligations. When Eileen leaves her home for the last time, an icicle finally breaks off and cuts her on the cheek (256), leaving a noticeable scar. Though Eileen escapes X-ville and her life, she is forever marked by the memories of her home, childhood, and family.