Olive's Character Development in Elisabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge

In the 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout constructs an emotionally complex character as the main character of her collection of short stories. The book is made of thirteen stories linked around the central character of Olive Kitteridge, a retired seventh grade math teacher. The theory of characterization, plot and conflict were applied in this analysis as part of formal elements in New Criticism theory. This analysis is emphasized more on the direct and indirect explanation of characterization and plot without neglecting the other elements on the New Criticism theory. In the process of analyzing, the writer uses telling technique, how the author directly describes about how the character looks like, his/her attitude, his/her personality, and the rest, and showing technique, the author shows a reader something about a character can emerge from the way he or she speaks, reacts, or thinks to study about Olive’s character. She also uses some of figurative language point of view which are symbol, metaphor, tone and irony. The writer concludes that using the interrelationship of the formal elements, the study finds that one could find out that Olive’s development character show how her unstable character gives big influence to her relationship with her family members and also her relationship with Crosby Maine Society.