Olive's Ocean

Lucy is a picky eater and only eats banana baby food, so their symbolism is somewhat ironic. Lucy’s food tastes don’t change throughout the narrative, but Godbee and Martha repurpose the jars. In this way, they represent change and how a person can use an object for different purposes. Godbee collects the empty jars and fills them with water and food coloring so that they reflect light during the day. In Godbee’s hands, the jars become decorative, and they add to the quaint atmosphere of her cottage. Martha asks to borrow one of the jars, and she uses it as a container for the ocean water that she wants to bring to Olive's mother. Martha reflects on the transformation of the baby food jars, and the narrator summarizes her thoughts, “She found it strange that something so insignificant—the jar—could contain a piece, however tiny, of something so grand—the ocean. Olive’s ocean” (227). As a symbol of change, the jar represents Experiencing Change in Adolescence. The fluidity of the world can turn something with seemingly little or no value into something of the utmost consequence.