Post 2: Via

 

 

 

Olivia is the oldest sibling. She recalls a picture of her third birthday. "You can really see in that picture how I was really the first child, first grandchild, first niece. I don't remember what it felt like, of course, but I can see it plain as can be in pictures"(pg84). When August is born the focus turns to him and the issues he is faced with. When seeing August for the first time she says, "I just looked at him for a long time without saying anything at all, then finally I said it doesn't look like Lily"(pg.84)! Lily was a doll her grandmother had given her to care for while waiting for the birth of her new sibling. After a few days of seeing August she was caring for him like she did for Lily kissing him and talking to him. Olivia naturally takes the back burner as her parents are busy focusing on Augusts needs. When Olivia turned eleven she went to stay with her grandmother for four weeks while August had his jaw surgery performed she explained the reaction she had to seeing August when she returned as

"Horrified. Sickened. Scared" (pg86).

This of course didn't last very long. After her grandmother passed away she knew that she would have to be self- reliant in her studies and dealing with daily situations that would materialize. She learned very quickly to push aside her own feelings, possibly out of guilt, and tell her parents that everything was going good in her new school when in all actuality it was not going so good. Her parents would continue to be very busy with her brother. Olivia gives the reader its first insight as to what August appearance is she describes it as

"His eyes are about an inch below where they should be on his face and the lower eyelids sag so much they almost look like a piece of invisible string is pulling them downward.....sometimes people assume he's been burned in a fire"(pg88).

It is very obvious throughout the book that Olivia loves her brother with all her heart it's just that she is torn between her wanting some parental attention and the guilt of not wanting to pull them away from her brother. Having to share your parents with siblings is hard enough without the added pressure she is experiencing.