Summary Of Olive Kitteridge
The short story “Pharmacy “ in Elizabeth Strout’s book Olive Kitteridge
published in 2008 gives us an idea of one of her many ways of writing. Strout is known
for her creative details that enthralled readers in her short stories which she won the
Pulitzer Prize for. Many of her stories have some irony to them and are usually mixed
with various tones and emotions usually misleading readers to think that it will end bad
only to see at the end that some how things end on a good note. The first story “
Pharmacy “ is told in third person but Strout makes it extremely easy for her readers to
imagine themselves in the story as any of the characters with her fine choice of details.
The main character Henry Kitteridge is having trouble …show more content…
The tone of the story itself was very confusing, lonely, and disturbed; there
is something that is lingering in the air, as if a fly was around but cannot be swatted
away. Readers know that his wife is tired of all her drudgery; readers know that
eventually Henry will fall for Denise, but it still is not enough to get that fly away. We
are struggling to comprehend all this confusion because of all these little hints, as if we
were in Henry’s shoes. At one point he thinks, “ I wanted to put my arms around her, but
she had a darkness that seemed to stand beside her like an acquaintance that would not go
away. (6). “ This quote alone can tell us as readers about hidden problems that their
relationship suffers from. The urge of wanting to put his arms around his wife lets us
know that he does not want to do it often nor gets the chance to. Relating to that it makes
it obvious that they only speak to each other and do not touch each other much, making
the happiness harder to grasp in their relationship. We can assume that he wants to give
her a hug because he had a good day and wants to share that with his wife but his
subconscious is hinting that he should not because Olive would not care about it.
published in 2008 gives us an idea of one of her many ways of writing. Strout is known
for her creative details that enthralled readers in her short stories which she won the
Pulitzer Prize for. Many of her stories have some irony to them and are usually mixed
with various tones and emotions usually misleading readers to think that it will end bad
only to see at the end that some how things end on a good note. The first story “
Pharmacy “ is told in third person but Strout makes it extremely easy for her readers to
imagine themselves in the story as any of the characters with her fine choice of details.
The main character Henry Kitteridge is having trouble …show more content…
The tone of the story itself was very confusing, lonely, and disturbed; there
is something that is lingering in the air, as if a fly was around but cannot be swatted
away. Readers know that his wife is tired of all her drudgery; readers know that
eventually Henry will fall for Denise, but it still is not enough to get that fly away. We
are struggling to comprehend all this confusion because of all these little hints, as if we
were in Henry’s shoes. At one point he thinks, “ I wanted to put my arms around her, but
she had a darkness that seemed to stand beside her like an acquaintance that would not go
away. (6). “ This quote alone can tell us as readers about hidden problems that their
relationship suffers from. The urge of wanting to put his arms around his wife lets us
know that he does not want to do it often nor gets the chance to. Relating to that it makes
it obvious that they only speak to each other and do not touch each other much, making
the happiness harder to grasp in their relationship. We can assume that he wants to give
her a hug because he had a good day and wants to share that with his wife but his
subconscious is hinting that he should not because Olive would not care about it.