Olive's Ocean

Olive is the titular character, but she’s not the main character. Through Olive, Martha forms an identity and acquires a purpose. Martha makes it her goal to bring Olive’s mother a jar of ocean water, as Olive always wished to visit the ocean. Olive also wanted to become a novelist and be friends with Martha. Martha helps Olive accomplish those goals in a way. Martha works on a story about a girl named Olive, and Martha maintains a close bond with Olive’s spirit by constantly thinking about her. Olive’s character defines Martha’s character. As Martha looks to Olive for guidance, she turns Olive into a mentor.

For all of Olive’s power, she doesn’t have much agency. Henkes allows Olive to speak for herself through her journal entry in Chapter 3, but most of Olive’s descriptors come from other people. Martha creates a rather unflattering characterization when she thinks of Olive as “a quiet, unremarkable girl, a loner with averted eyes, clinging to the lockers when walking down the hallways at school” (13). Holly reinforces Olive’s peculiar traits when she says, “She was kind of…I mean…weird” (28). The landlord, John Waverly, contributes to the glum depiction when he refers to Olive as “Lonely Little Olive Pit” (238). Yet Olive doesn’t depict herself as “weird” or “lonely.” In her journal entry, she comes across as a hopeful person with well-defined beliefs and goals.

Godbee is Martha’s grandmother and Dennis’s mother. Godbee’s official name is Dorothy Boyle. The family called her Grandma B, but Martha couldn’t pronounce Grandma B, so she called her Godbee, and the name stuck. The name makes Martha’s grandmother seem like a god-like character. Significantly, Godbee is not immortal, and she constantly draws attention to her humanness by bringing up her changes in health and the possibility that she might die. At the same time, Henkes teases her connection to God and godly figures. Godbee tells Martha, “You have to tell me something about yourself each day you’re here” (47). The directive mirrors the act of confessing. Instead of confiding in a god or an imputed representative of God, Godbee wants Martha to confide in her. Godbee uses religious diction when says, “When I’m genuinely suffering, I try to think of someone worse off than I am. And then, if it happens to be someone I know and I’m feeling particularly saintly, I try to do something nice for [them]” (174). The term “saintly” connects Godbee to a “saint.” Godbee’s emphasis on charity and self-abnegation relates to religious discourse that portrays a genuinely religious person as selfless and living for God or something bigger than them.

Additionally, Godbee is a wise, considerate, and dependable character. She doesn’t embarrass Martha like her mother, and though Martha doesn’t tell Godbee everything, she tells her more than she tells other characters. Godbee doesn’t abuse the trust, nor does she force Martha to communicate. Martha says, “Can I not tell you about me anymore? Is that okay?” (174). Godbee replies, “Oh, sweetie. Of course. I didn’t mean for this to be work” (174). Godbee is understanding, and though Olive is in connection with her and Holly is her best friend, Godbee is the character that Martha is closest to. When Martha was six or seven, she told Godbee, “I like to be at your house best of all” (215). Their emotional goodbye indicates that their bond remains strong.

There are five Manning brothers, and Jimmy and Tate are the two most consequential. Martha is “interested in seeing them, particularly Tate, who was thirteen, closest to her in age” (45). The interest suggests romantic feelings, and soon, Jimmy replaces Tate as Martha’s primary romantic interest. Jimmy builds a bond with Martha by showing her his movie and making her a part of it. He consensually films her talking about Olive’s death, and he nonconsensually records their kiss.

After Martha learns the kiss was a product of a bet between Jimmy, his brothers, and Vince, Jimmy becomes an antagonist. He’s a deceptive, manipulative character. Martha cements the transformation from romantic interest to villain when she portrays James (the Jimmy character in the Olive story) as a “stupid, flat-faced boy with dull, dark blond hair and pink skin and with a brain and heart the size of a microbe” (168). The negative representation makes Jimmy a toxic influence, and after Martha nearly drowns, she pushes Jimmy out of her head.

Henkes uses Tate to juxtapose Jimmy. Unlike his brother, Tate is honorable. Like Martha, he’s rather selfless. He takes the videotape of the kiss and gives it to Martha even though Jimmy might “kill” him when he discovers the missing video. Tate also genuinely likes Martha, and he confesses his attraction in the note. 

Vince Boyle’s full name is Vincent Boyle. He’s one year older than Martha, so he’s Martha’s older brother. Vince’s character is rather marginal, but he tends to provide comedic moments. During the tumultuous dinner on their first night of vacation at Godbee’s cottage, Vince quips, “We’re definitely on vacation now. I can feel every muscle relaxing. Who needs meditation when you can be with the Boyles? Even my baby toenails are relaxing” (51). Vince also uses a curse word and makes sarcastic remarks about his parents’ sex lives. When people challenge the book, Vince’s character provides the objectionable content.

Though Vince and Martha fight, they remain close, and Vince visits Martha’s room for bedtime chats. Like Tate, Vince separates himself from Jimmy after the videotaped kiss, indicating he doesn’t want to be associated with the inimical brother. Vince makes his opinion of Jimmy clear when he says, “Jimmy Manning can be a prick” (161).

Dennis Boyle and Alice Hubbard are Martha’s parents. Dennis was a lawyer, but he quit his job to focus on writing a novel. His choice also turns him into a stay-at-home father. Henkes’s narrator notes the disorder he must deal with via the image of “a laundry basket heaped high with all sorts of things: clothes, newspapers, a rubber ball, dirty dishes, CDs, bottles of sunscreen, Lucy’s plastic sandals” (18). Martha feels competitive with her father since she wants to be a writer. The narrator says, “Martha hadn’t told anyone about her decision to be a writer yet, mostly because she didn’t want her father to think she was copying him” (19). As Dennis realizes he’s not going to produce a novel, he decides to return to work, so Martha gets to be the sole writer in the family.

Aside from the light competition of being the family’s only writer, Martha and her father mostly get along, yet her mother, Alice Hubbard, produces intense emotions. The narrator notes, “Martha’s feelings for her mother bounced between love and hate quickly and without warning” (33). Sometimes, Martha refers to her mother as Ms. Hubbard, reinforcing the icy relationship. Martha feels embarrassed by her mother’s radio show, and Alice’s questioning of Jimmy embarrasses her too. Such scenes suggest that Martha feels closer to her father, and her relationship with her mother has much more unresolved tension.