Happy Birthday Ann

After finishing Olive Kitteridge, I have gained knowledge on multiple different characters throughout the book and how they live their lives to a point where I now feel like I know them. In fact, as the time of year rolls around, I believe that I could accurately purchase a birthday gift or two for Ann Kitteridge, Chris's new wife. As Ann and Olive discuss Ann's anniversary day  with Chris, she describes it as "a little moment to reflect" while Olive states that she just liked the presents (224). This juxtaposition of the two women alone gives me enough insight to know that Ann would most likely not want to make a big deal out of her birthday. So, in a very discreet and simple manner, I would give her two presents that she desperately needs as to not overwhelm her. First, I would give her every yoga enthusiasts dream package complete with a yoga mat, a how to book, and some relaxing music. This gift would greatly improve Ann's "meditation time" with a clean and pure activity such as yoga that would minimize her smoking and drinking, improving the health of her baby (209). By stating that she needs meditation time, Ann indirectly characterizes herself as stressed and overwhelmed with her life and multitude of children.By doing yoga, her harmful substance use will decrease and her spirits will lift. However, no one can do yoga in a dirty, stressful environment. So as my second gift to Ann, I would get her a cleaning service. The maid would take care of all of the "pots…open boxes…grimy sock[s]" and other imperfections in her home to make it livable for her ask well as keeping her stress level down (205). Ann's filthy home again indirectly characterizes her as stressed as well as inexperienced. The pressure of marriage and raising a family has proven a bit too much for her, therefore, an experienced main to come and help Ann clean would lift that pressure right off of her downward dog shoulders. These gifts would improve the quality of Ann's life as well as her new family's as s clean, stress-free environment would make anyone happier and more easy going. Happy birthday Ann, an Ohm a day and the maid will stay. 

Don't Judge a Book By It's Cover

When I first picked up Olive Kitteridge I questioned whether or not I would enjoy it. The cover did not appeal immediately to me, therefore I assumed that I would have to suffer through reading and painfully annotating a book that I disliked. However, as I finish the second third of Olive Kitteridge I can say that I truly enjoy this book. The same applies to my feelings towards the main character, Olive's, actions. At the beginning of the book I could not stand Olive and found her a pretentious and overbearing woman. Now, after further reading and understanding more about her, I find that I judged Olive too strongly and now judge her actions as defensive and hurt rather than outright mean. Pulitzer Prize winning author Elizabeth Strout sets her book in a modern era with events such as 9/11 occurring. During this time, racial stereotyping and judgement of all kinds became prominent in our society. Olive Kitteridge faces this judgement from me while reading about her odd parenting style as she often yelled at her son, Chris. In the midst of my judgement she cries out inside as she recognizes that "she had loved him" (145). The somber almost defeated tone indirectly characterizes Olive as exhausted from trying to love her son the best she could. I realize that Olive had grown up without very much love and support from her own parents and therefore had no model to base her parenting off of. Strout implies that Parents love their children as best as they can in the way that their parents loved them. While not always right and kind towards Chris, I now understand that her constant pressure and over bearing attitude only means that she loves him. For instance, her want for Chris's full attention and presence at home. Initially, I took this as selfish and over protective however when she states that Chris's fiancé acts "as mean as a bat" I understood the deeper meaning (113). This simile shows Olive's true emotions through an almost child-like tone. This indirectly characterizes her as sensitive under her hard exterior as she feels victimized by the woman Chris will marry. This hidden softness comes up once again when Julie Harwood explains to her little sister, Winnie, that Mrs. Kitteridge, her future math teacher, says "weird things…very powerfully" (195). Through Julie's reassuring tone she calms Winnie by indirectly characterizing Mrs. Kitteridge as wise and knowing. Julie Harwood broke the judgement in my mind about Olive's sternness in the classroom from mean math teacher to insightful woman trying to improve children's lives. Olive's actions, while undoubtedly questionable at times, always have a deeper rooted motive or past experience that gives her her personality. I judge Olive's actions as commendable as she tries to deal with the pressures of modern life as best as she can. 

Soul Food

Typically, when you hear the words hungry or starving, you think of food: a granola bar in your backpack or the lunch you forgot to eat. That persistent nagging in your stomach that won't go away until you devour your PB&J and satisfy your hunger. However, as Elizabeth Strout writes Olive Kitteridge set in her native home, Maine, she looks deeper into different meanings of the word hunger. Though only directly addressed in the chapter rightfully titled "Starving", Strout shows a kind of hunger in almost every one of her complex characters. This hunger, however, does not make Olive Kitteridge reaching for a doughnut. The aching feeling of starvation that these characters face lies in their heart and soul. Strout uses the longing that these characters face in order to address the timeless and universal truth that people crave what they cannot have. For instance, when Henry Kitteridge first encounters Denise, he also meets her "strong, young husband" (11). The glorifying diction of "strong" and "young" creates an envious tone from Henry as he longs for his youth and young love. His envy asserts that people do not appreciate their youth and let it fly by. In his heart he craves the time when he and Olive had a passionate love, a hunger that Denise and her husband filled for him, however not completely. He shares this hunger with a man named Harmon who finds satisfaction in having an affair with his close friend Daisy. Exclaiming "such abundance…next to him", Strout indirectly characterizes Harmon as depressed as he looks on to what he most wants (77). This connection of Henry and Harmon in their similar desires further supports Straut's universal truth. The fact that both Henry and Harmon feed they hunger by either imagining or engaging in an affair indirectly characterizes both of them as desperate. However, Strout does not dismiss the idea of fueling their hunger. She almost makes it seem acceptable when Olive suggests "sure I am [hungry]. We all are" (96). Here Olive suggests that everyone feels hunger, yet Strout implies that the hunger does not always lie in a mid morning snack. She indirectly characterizes Olive as insightful as she seems the only one who has figured this out. Using a young, anorexic girl, Nina, Strout shows that not indulging in hunger can lead to demise and one's ultimate end in order to urge people to feed themselves. She notices as the modern world continues to grow, more people fall into the daily hum-drum of life, finding themselves not pursuing their passions and trying to please those they really do not care about, metaphorically starving themselves. Strout includes the universal truth of people wanting what they can not have to urge people to go after what they want and not settle for less. Through the first third of Olive Kitteridge, Strout encourages people to eat. Not only literally eating a bowl of cereal before school, but finding what truly makes one happy and indulging in it ravenously.