Strout’s Insight into the Times: Trauma and Recovery in Olive Kitteridge

Abstract

Olive Kitteridge wins the 2009 Pulitzer Prize and is a representative work of Elizabeth Strout. The eponymous character Olive Kitteridge personifies the pathos of contemporary America in the contemporary world, through whom Elizabeth Strout strives to shed light on a spiritual barren American. Thus, it’s essential to analyze how Olive Kitteridge deals with her traumatic experiences according to the arrangement of Elizabeth Strout. Through close reading of the text, this article will systematically analyze Olive Kitteridge's individual trauma from three aspects--the manifestation, the causes, and the recovery methods, so as to present an approachable way to smooth the pain of modern people and show the mental damage caused by rapid modernization.