64 pages • 2 hours read
Rachel KhongGoodbye, Vitamin
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Ruth Young
Ruth Young is the book’s protagonist. Living at home again after a failed engagement, Ruth is learning how to build a life that she wants to live. She is humorous and a deep thinker, recording observations both quotidian and profound in her journal during her year living at home. She regrets decisions that she made in her life, such as dropping out of college to follow her ex-fiancé across the country and shows a real desire to figure out what is important after so many years away from home.
One thing that preoccupies Ruth is her belief that she can’t decide what “matters” and what does not. Feeling guilty for the time she spent away from her family, she writes: “What I want to know is what counted for something and what counted not at all. Now I feel like a shit for spending that time [...] on what turns out not to matter, and neglecting the things that did, and do” (133). This quote illustrates Ruth’s desire to have someone else or some outside omnipotent force determine what is important and what is not. Ruth struggles to decide this for herself until she learns to let go of her guilt about leaving, embracing the time she is spending with her family in the present instead.
Throughout the work, Ruth confronts her reasons for staying away from home for so long: “I wanted to preserve my memory of my perfect father. I didn’t want to know the many ways he’d hurt my mother. I didn’t want to have to pick sides. Unlike my brother, I wouldn’t have been able to do it as easily” (91). Ruth’s deep connection to her father endures despite the harm he caused with his infidelities and addictions. Confronted with her father’s mistakes (such as his affair with his graduate student, Joan), Ruth must navigate her anger toward her father with the reality that his illness is progressing. She ultimately decides to love him anyway, despite his faults, and enjoy the time she has left with him.
One particular quote illustrates Ruth’s growth and transformation: “Today Mom brought home a heavy melon [...] It was my first in years, because Joel couldn’t stand cantaloupe. Cantaloupe–it’s delicious. I’d forgotten” (162). Although simple, this shows Ruth rediscovering and reclaiming her true wants and desires, remembering pieces of herself that she neglected for years in her previous relationship.
Howard Young
Howard Young is Ruth’s father. Until recently, he worked as a history professor at a local college, but the dean asked him not to return because of his memory loss symptoms. Much of the story revolves around Howard’s experience with Alzheimer’s disease and how it affects him and his family. Howard is an imperfect father, but one with an immense amount of love for his family, especially Ruth.
Howard represents that humans are inherently flawed, but their flaws do not have to outweigh their good qualities. Though Howard struggled with alcohol addiction and infidelity in the past, Ruth recalls happier memories as well: “He took us to the nearest drive-through. We bought milkshakes and fries and headed back to the parking lot, where we drank the milkshakes and fed those pigeons, a fry at a time” (20). Howard illustrates the complexity of human beings: Everyone causes harm to others at various points in life, but they maintain the capacity for compassion and connection.
Howard’s progressing illness dictates his transformation throughout the work. In her journal, Ruth records his memory lapses and how the family works together to make the house safer for him as his illness progresses. For example, the family takes steps to prevent Howard from leaving the house unannounced, installing a functional doorknob lower to the ground: “Trying the knob located in the regular position, you’ll assume the door is broken, and this will deter you from leaving. When things get worse, that is'' (171). There is tension and uncertainty in knowing that Howard’s illness is irreversible while he and his family try to stay present and enjoy the good moments that they have together.
As his memories fade, certain things remain constant for Howard. Ruth records one example of this: “Today, like a lot of days lately, you forget some names. ‘The one I’m carrying a torch for,’ you said. ‘Mom? Annie?’ I said. ‘Are you talking about Annie?’ ‘That’s the one,’ you said” (187). Despite not remembering his wife’s name, his memory loss does not affect the way he feels about her. He calls her, after all their years together and their relationship’s ups and downs, “the one I’m carrying a torch for,” which shows an ongoing and unwavering devotion and love.
Annie Young
Annie Young is Ruth’s mother. Annie has had a difficult life: She lost her adoptive parents while she was pregnant with Ruth in a tragic car accident, and she struggles with her husband’s alcohol addiction and infidelity. Annie is a giving person. Ruth recalls at various points throughout the story that Annie is the kind of mother who made everything from scratch, going as far as to experiment with making homemade Cheetos. Because of Annie’s giving nature, Ruth sometimes worries that her mother “gave to us, and we took from her, until she disappeared” (132), and at times both of her children worry that Annie put up with too much poor treatment from Howard. Linus feels especially protective of Annie, as he was still living at home when Howard was drinking heavily and having an affair. Ruth recalls him calling her while she was away at college to talk about their mother: “It’s like she thinks she deserves it [...] or something” (130).
Annie teaches the reader about the power of forgiveness. When Annie learns of Howard’s flirtation and possible affair with his student, Joan, she finally stands up for herself: She stays in their bedroom and sets up a makeshift bed for Howard in his office. Howard, not remembering his relationship with Joan, “seems genuinely confused” (129) by Annie’s sudden coldness. However, when Howard disappears and the police escort him home, Annie’s love for Howard and desire to take care of him overcomes her anger: “wordlessly she wraps her arms around him, kisses him on the side of his face, and repeats, very softly, ‘Stupid, stupid, stupid,’ and kisses him some more” (132).
Despite the real pain Howard inflicted upon Annie over the years, she does not leave him. Howard and Annie’s relationship is imperfect and has a history of flaws. However, there is genuine love and connection between them, and their decision to stay married and Annie’s decision to remain by Howard’s side during his illness illustrates the power of their bond. Sometimes, love can be a more powerful force than the hurt one endures.
Linus Young
Linus Young is Ruth’s brother and is five years younger than her. Unlike Ruth, Linus’s loyalties lie firmly with their mother because he had a different experience growing up. Linus’s role in the narrative is to show how siblings, raised in the same household by the same set of parents, can have vastly different experiences that shape their worldview and outlook. Ruth writes that “Linus sees things differently” (27) because he still lived at home when their father’s affair with a colleague came to light. While she was away, “It was Linus who relayed the goings-on–how strained their relationship had become, how miserable my mother seemed, how helpless” (27). For much of the narrative, Ruth wants to excuse their father’s behavior in favor of protecting her perfect image of him. Linus experienced the trauma of their father’s infidelities and addictions firsthand, which makes him less sympathetic. When Ruth tries to convince Linus to come home with her, saying “He’s our dad, though,” Linus responds, simply: “And I don’t give a shit” (29).
Linus does come around and eventually chooses to forgive his father, moving back home after a breakup with his girlfriend. It takes time for Linus to be comfortable around their father again, and the transition is not an easy one. At the end of the text, Linus shows that he is loyal to his family, which he shows by buying them all walkie-talkies for Christmas. In the final scene, Linus, Ruth, and their parents walk out into the evening, following Howard: “one after the other, into the darkness: over and over and over. Out, out, out” (194). This scene symbolizes the state of their family: Howard leads them into a dark unknown, but they remain connected and together as a united front.
