As teenagers I am sure my peers can identify with the feeling that their parents oppress or "over-protect" them at times hindering their social lives. Some parents do this better than others, but I have never seen, heard, or experienced someone as good at keeping their child on lockdown as well as Olive Kitteridge. In fact I honestly do not understand what compels Olive to take every decision Christopher makes as a personal attack against herself. For example, when Chris moves to California Olive takes it so far as to call him a "stranger" to the family (145). The negative connotations behind "stranger" simply build my case that Olive primarily seeks personal gain out of her son's life in the form of grandchildren (80). She completely overreacts to the news and cannot grasp that he simply wants a better life with his newfound wife in a place where he does not have to worry about his mother analyzing every decision he makes. I applaud her husband Henry however, for he foils Olive and simply asserts that the coastline is his home, and therefore, someday he will come home. I beg that Olive adopts Henry's "live and let live" attitude for it will only help find greater peace for herself and others. Yet for now, if Christopher remained living near his parents, he may still have to ask his mother for permission to use the restroom.
-Rabindranath
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