Abuse
Throughout the story, Eleanor and her siblings were being abused by Richie. In most of the story, it was emotional. He kept hurting Eleanor's feelings and called her fat and told her that she ate a lot. He kicked her out of his house for a whole year. He also hurt her physically one time in the story when he suddenly jumped on her and pulled her hair and kept shouting hard at her. Another abuse that happened from Richie was to Sabrina, his wife. He used to hurt her and shout at her all the time, which was physical abuse. He treated Sabrina not as a wife, but as a maid, even worse. He also used to curse all the time and make Sabrina cry a lot from his abuse, which was emotional abuse.
Bullying
Eleanor was bullied a lot in school. She was called names like Big Red, Fat, and many others. Most people hated her and they showed it in front of everyone. The students on the bus and in school used to make fun of her and embarrass her in front of everyone. Tina and her friends used to bully her in gym class. However, she stayed strong and never cared about them, which weakened their bullying. She showed everyone that bullying is never a solution to make someone feel bad. It also showed how strong Eleanor is especially facing what happened in her school and in her house.
