What's in a name?

[sauvin]

Then Eli does wear the same pink sweater during their second meeting. But I think it's hard to know if Eli does care about what she wears.

Without specific motivation, no, I don't think so. Folks in the forum in past threads have even offered the possibility that Eli deliberately neglects her personal hygiene in order to keep Hakan at arm's length. Anyway, if she has to spend so much of her time alone, and doesn't ever seem to be in much danger of running into a genuine social opportunity, why should she worry about how she looks or smells?

In fact, apart from "protective coloration" in case she's spotted from a distance, what need does she have for clothing in any event? She doesn't get cold, and she probably doesn't need to worry about always making sure her pants have pockets so she'll have someplace to store her Swiss army knife.

[metoo]

Eli chose a dress after showering in Oskar's apartment, that's one. What's the other occasion where she chooses feminine attire?

He doesn't dress in it, but he reaches out in his mind for his sister's clothes after the castration.
[...]

To view that episode as a sign that Eli wants to dress in girl's clothes is to really stretch things thin, I'd say.
As I see it, Eli reached out to a happy moment in his past, where he was able to help his mother by retrieving a valuable item.

[drakkar]

Eli chose a dress after showering in Oskar's apartment, that's one. What's the other occasion where she chooses feminine attire?

He doesn't dress in it, but he reaches out in his mind for his sister's clothes after the castration.
[...]

Your're really at it, arent you?
Eli chose the robe looking most worn, iirc he even told Oskar. Which perhaps is likely to be a piece from mum's wardrobe, since Oskar grow fast and out of his clothes before they are worn out.

[sauvin]

Eli chose a dress after showering in Oskar's apartment, that's one. What's the other occasion where she chooses feminine attire?

He doesn't dress in it, but he reaches out in his mind for his sister's clothes after the castration.
[...]

Your're really at it, arent you?
Eli chose the robe looking most worn, iirc he even told Oskar. Which perhaps is likely to be a piece from mum's wardrobe, since Oskar grow fast and out of his clothes before they are worn out.

Scientists, engineers, lawyers, mathematicians, novelists and a few other brainy types in da house! You're honestly surprised?

What Eli said was that she took the most worn-looking thing in the closet. It may even be true that what she took actually was exactly that. What she didn't necessarily voice was her motivation for choosing the most worn dress instead of the most worn pair of jeans and rattiest looking sweater. Hadn't she been told to take something of his? - or are we going to suggest she's ignorant as to what's appropriate to Oskar's gender and age? No, that can't be either, because Oskar is quite a bit smaller than his mother.

Hrmm.

This discussion's been done before, too, but I'm too tired right now to go dig it up. There's been some discussion of Eli's reaching out for his sister's clothes as it might relate to the trauma he'd undergone at the lord's castle or mansion. That whole discussion, as I recall, centered around Eli's perception of her own gender (or lack thereof).

[metoo]

[...] Hadn't she been told to take something of his? -[...]

Nope. In the film yes, but not in the novel.

[pantsonparade]

[...] Hadn't she been told to take something of his? -[...]

Nope. In the film yes, but not in the novel.

Actually in the book Eli is told to take something of Oskar's.

Couldn't muster the energy to ask. Eli crouched don next to the plastic bag, untied it and started to pull out his clothes.
"You can take something of mine," Oskar said.
"It's OK."
Eli took out the checkered shirt. Dark squares against the blue. Oskar sat up. The headache whirled against his temples.
"Don't be silly you can—"
"It's OK."
Eli started to put on the blood-stained shirt and Oskar said, "You're gross, don't you get it? You're gross."
Eli turned to him with the shirt in his hands. "Do you think so?"
"Yes"
Eli put the shirt back in the bag. What should I take then?"
"Something from the closet, whatever you like."

[metoo]

Actually in the book Eli is told to take something of Oskar's.

Couldn't muster the energy to ask. Eli crouched don next to the plastic bag, untied it and started to pull out his clothes.
"You can take something of mine," Oskar said.
"It's OK."
Eli took out the checkered shirt. Dark squares against the blue. Oskar sat up. The headache whirled against his temples.
"Don't be silly you can—"
"It's OK."
Eli started to put on the blood-stained shirt and Oskar said, "You're gross, don't you get it? You're gross."
Eli turned to him with the shirt in his hands. "Do you think so?"
"Yes"
Eli put the shirt back in the bag. What should I take then?"
"Something from the closet, whatever you like."

Hmm, seems he did, after all. I didn't go far enough back in the dialogue, I guess, when I checked this out.

[sauvin]

[...] Hadn't she been told to take something of his? -[...]

Nope. In the film yes, but not in the novel.

Actually in the book Eli is told to take something of Oskar's.

Couldn't muster the energy to ask. Eli crouched don next to the plastic bag, untied it and started to pull out his clothes.
"You can take something of mine," Oskar said.
"It's OK."
Eli took out the checkered shirt. Dark squares against the blue. Oskar sat up. The headache whirled against his temples.
"Don't be silly you can—"
"It's OK."
Eli started to put on the blood-stained shirt and Oskar said, "You're gross, don't you get it? You're gross."
Eli turned to him with the shirt in his hands. "Do you think so?"
"Yes"
Eli put the shirt back in the bag. What should I take then?"
"Something from the closet, whatever you like."

Thank you for quoting this passage! I don't remember it going down quite this way.

I wonder why Eli tried to insist on putting her old stuff back on. Was this in the same kind of spirit as Eli's respectfully returning his Rubik's Cube, that she didn't want to take anything of his? I think most kids, in Eli's place in this situation, would have been grateful because they wouldn't want to put gross stuff back on after having showered. It really does look like she doesn't care what she wears.

Oskar is making a statement, one that smacks of some kind of unfavourable judgement. "You're really gross, don't get get it?" She meets this criticism not with angered resistance or injured meekness, but with honest, open and trusting solicitation. She cares what Oskar thinks, and it's for this reason she decides to put on something decent, even if it's a summer dress rather than jeans and a sweater.

One presumes she's not completely ignorant, and knows what's appropriate for a twelve year old boy to wear, and she isn't putting up a front anymore (if she ever had been) because Oskar knows now that she's not really a "she", and still she chooses the dress saying she took the most worn-looking thing.

Oh, well. A bit later on, in that very same dress, Tommy comments on that summer dress, and she simply remarks "Yes." probably in about the same way you or I might admit the sun in in the sky.

[EEA]

So Eli does take something from Oskar. Thanks for posting the passage. I had forgotten about that part.
As for Eli trying to put back on the clothing with blood, I thought she was trying to make the situation a bit less serious. She probably would have put on the clothing back if Oskar wouldn't have said anything.

[pantsonparade]

The only reason I noticed it is because I have recently re-read LTROI for the third time.