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Tomoko / Nao’s Mother
Oliver is Ruth’s husband. He is an artist who lives in Whaletown on a remote island in British Columbia, where Ruth moved to to be with him. Though Ruth feels unhappy on the island, she doesn’t tell Oliver this. She also doesn’t tell him that she is struggling with her writing. So, even though they have a loving relationship, there is much that they leave unsaid since they don’t want to hurt each other’s feelings. After Ruth finds Nao’s diary, Oliver becomes interested in Nao’s story too, and he and Ruth spend a lot of time discussing the diary. When Nao’s diary entries end, and Ruth is convinced that she is dead, it is Oliver who convinces Ruth that she is a writer and can therefore rewrite Nao’s life. Oliver is a well of information and scientific facts, and his interests range from ornithology to quantum physics. Ruth admires his intelligence, talent, and humility. However, Oliver is insecure that he doesn’t earn enough money and feels that his financial failings disappoint Ruth. She truly doesn’t care about this, however, and tells him at the end of the novel that she is happy with him.
Oliver Quotes in A Tale for the Time Being
The A Tale for the Time Being quotes below are all either spoken by Oliver or refer to Oliver. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part I, Chapter 3: Nao
Quotes
What if you never even found this book, because somebody chucked it in the trash or recycled it before it got to you? Then old Jiko’s stories truly will be lost forever, and I’m just sitting here wasting time talking to the inside of a dumpster. […]
Okay, here’s what I’ve decided. I don’t mind the risk, because the risk makes it more interesting. And I don’t think old Jiko will mind, either, because being
a Buddhist, she really understands impermanence and that everything changes and nothing lasts forever.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Part I, Chapter 6: Ruth
Quotes
But here, on the sparsely populated island, human culture barely existed and then only as the thinnest veneer. Engulfed by the thorny roses and massing
bamboo, she stared out the window and felt like she’d stepped into a malevolent fairy tale. She’d been bewitched. She’d pricked her finger and
had fallen into a deep, comalike sleep. The years had passed, and she was not
getting any younger. […] Now that her mother was dead, Ruth felt that her own life was passing her by. Maybe it was time to leave this place she’d hoped would be home forever. Maybe it was time to break the spell.
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Part II, Chapter 9: Ruth
Quotes
The Earthquake Catfish is not solely a malevolent fish, despite the havoc and calamity it can wreak. It has benevolent aspects as well. A subspecies of the
Earthquake catfish is […] World-Rectifying Catfish,
which is able to heal the political and economic corruption in society by shaking things up. […]
The World-Rectifying Catfish targeted the business class, the 1 percent […].
The angry catfish would cause an earthquake, wreaking havoc and destruction, and in order to rebuild, the wealthy would have to let go of their assets, which would create jobs […] for the working classes.
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Part IV, Chapter 4: Ruth
Quotes
To study the self is to forget the self. Maybe if you sat enough zazen, your sense of being a solid, singular self would dissolve and you could forget about it. What a relief. You could just hang out happily as part of an open-ended quantum array.
[…]
Had Dogen figured all this out? He’d written these words many centuries before quantum mechanics [.]
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Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire A Tale for the Time Being LitChart as a printable PDF.
Oliver Quotes in A Tale for the Time Being
The A Tale for the Time Being quotes below are all either spoken by Oliver or refer to Oliver. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part I, Chapter 3: Nao
Quotes
What if you never even found this book, because somebody chucked it in the trash or recycled it before it got to you? Then old Jiko’s stories truly will be lost forever, and I’m just sitting here wasting time talking to the inside of a dumpster. […]
Okay, here’s what I’ve decided. I don’t mind the risk, because the risk makes it more interesting. And I don’t think old Jiko will mind, either, because being
a Buddhist, she really understands impermanence and that everything changes and nothing lasts forever.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part I, Chapter 6: Ruth
Quotes
But here, on the sparsely populated island, human culture barely existed and then only as the thinnest veneer. Engulfed by the thorny roses and massing
bamboo, she stared out the window and felt like she’d stepped into a malevolent fairy tale. She’d been bewitched. She’d pricked her finger and
had fallen into a deep, comalike sleep. The years had passed, and she was not
getting any younger. […] Now that her mother was dead, Ruth felt that her own life was passing her by. Maybe it was time to leave this place she’d hoped would be home forever. Maybe it was time to break the spell.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part II, Chapter 9: Ruth
Quotes
The Earthquake Catfish is not solely a malevolent fish, despite the havoc and calamity it can wreak. It has benevolent aspects as well. A subspecies of the
Earthquake catfish is […] World-Rectifying Catfish,
which is able to heal the political and economic corruption in society by shaking things up. […]
The World-Rectifying Catfish targeted the business class, the 1 percent […].
The angry catfish would cause an earthquake, wreaking havoc and destruction, and in order to rebuild, the wealthy would have to let go of their assets, which would create jobs […] for the working classes.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part IV, Chapter 4: Ruth
Quotes
To study the self is to forget the self. Maybe if you sat enough zazen, your sense of being a solid, singular self would dissolve and you could forget about it. What a relief. You could just hang out happily as part of an open-ended quantum array.
[…]
Had Dogen figured all this out? He’d written these words many centuries before quantum mechanics [.]
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
