Eleanor Oliphant Is not that Fine: Exploring the Transformative Potential of Vulnerability in Gail Honeyman’s Debut (2017)

Abstract

This article explores the notion of vulnerability as a condition of potential and openness towards personal transformation and connection with others. The current approach to the notion of vulnerability focuses on challenging and re-orienting its restrictively negative connotation, as the works by Jean-Michel Ganteau and Susana Onega (2017) or Erinn Gilson (2016), among many others, have shown. The notion has also proved useful in connection with political or social action (Butler 2020), as well as in the framework of ethical philosophy (Maillard 2011, Le Blanc 2011). However, analysing vulnerability in contemporary literary works can be problematic, as sometimes the complexity of the notion hinders the representation of the character’s journey through the good and bad. In this article, my aim is to peruse Gail Honeyman’s debut novel, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine (2017), which has received little critical attention in this area in spite of its popularity following its publication. Addressing the ideal of invulnerability, the connection between vulnerability and social isolation, its movement towards openness to the other, and its portrayal through formal choices, I argue that this text is an example of how contemporary literary works of British fiction contribute to portray the potential that can be found in experiences of vulnerability.