Olivia Weston (Sister Olivia) Character Analysis in Trash

A kindhearted 22-year-old British volunteer at the Pascal Aguila Mission School on the Behala landfill. Olivia originally travelled to the city in which the story is set to go surfing, but she ultimately decided to stay and help out at the school. The children living in Behala steal Olivia’s heart, and she’s particularly fond of a young orphan nicknamed Rat. However, Rat and two other boys from the landfill, Raphael and Gardo, put Olivia in grave danger when they dupe her into taking Gardo to Colva Prison. They do so in order to meet a political prisoner named Gabriel Olondriz who was jailed by a corrupt politician named Senator Zapanta. Olivia is distraught after witnessing the squalor of the prison, which is stacked full of starving people in tiny cages, many of whom are young children. Olivia is arrested by the police after her visit to the prison, but her father (who is wealthy and well-connected) sends a man from the British Embassy to negotiate for her release. Despite the risks Olivia faced, she’s ultimately glad that the boys tricked her. Olivia feels that she learned many things from her exposure to Behala and Colva Prison that she couldn’t have learned at university, and she says that she left a piece of her heart behind when she left the country after her release.

Olivia Weston (Sister Olivia) Quotes in Trash

The Trash quotes below are all either spoken by Olivia Weston (Sister Olivia) or refer to Olivia Weston (Sister Olivia) . 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:

Childhood, Poverty, and Injustice Theme Icon

Ten thousand is a lot of money!

Related Characters: Raphael’s auntie (speaker), Raphael Fernández, Gardo, Olivia Weston (Sister Olivia)

Page Number and Citation: 38

Explanation and Analysis:

Raphael and Gardo sit with Raphael’s auntie in the evening after the police have left. Raphael’s auntie explains that she only told the police Raphael found something because of the reward, even though Raphael and Gardo think she was stupid to draw attention to Raphael like that. Raphael’s Auntie shows here that “ten thousand” is an incomprehensibly large sum to people who live on the landfill and eke out maybe 100 pesos or so a day to support their families from hours of back-breaking scavenging through filthy trash. This amount, however, is exactly how much Olivia Weston later reveals a Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint ape

Little Jun had me wrapped around his little finger in about two days, and I was forever giving him little bits of food, and little bits of money. I don’t know how else a boy like that survives.

Related Characters: Olivia Weston (Sister Olivia) (speaker), Rat / Jun / Jun-Jun

Page Number and Citation: 84

Explanation and Analysis:

Olivia Weston, a volunteer at the charity-run Mission School on at the Behala dumpsite, narrates several chapters to describe her involvement in the protagonists’ story. The boys are about to approach Olivia to trick her into helping them go to Colva Prison so that they can visit a prisoner there, with the hope of uncovering more information about a cryptic letter they found. Before Olivia is approached, she reflects on her fondness for Jun (who goes by Rat). Olivia’s description reveals that Rat has a high level of emotional intelligence; despite being poor and uneducated, he is successfully able to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Volupta

When one of their number is hurt, everyone feels the wound.

Related Characters: Olivia Weston (Sister Olivia) (speaker), Raphael Fernández, Father Juilliard

Page Number and Citation: 85

Explanation and Analysis:

Olivia Weston comments on her experiences as a volunteer on the charity-run Mission School in Behala, shortly before the protagonists trick her into accompanying them to Colva Prison. Here, she reflects on Father Juilliard’s description of the moment Raphael walks into Behala, bloody and beaten from his police interrogation: Raphael is immediately surrounded by an outpouring of grief for the violence he endured by the other residents, who immediately run out and comfort him. Their reaction is so visceral that it’s as if each of them was personally afflicted by Raphael’s suffering. Through this observation, Olivia emphasizes the deep sense Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui au

Behala also makes you want to weep, because it looks like an awful punishment that will never end – and if you have any imagination, you can see the child and what he is doomed to do for the rest of his life. When you see the old man, too weak to work, propped in a chair outside his shack, you think, That is Raphael in forty years. What could possibly change? These children are doomed to breathe the stink all day, all night, sifting the effluent of the city. Rats and children, children and rats, and you sometimes think they have pretty much the same life.

Related Characters: Olivia Weston (Sister Olivia) (speaker), Raphael Fernández, Gardo

Related Symbols: Trash

Page Number and Citation: 92

Explanation and Analysis:

Olivia is in a taxi with Gardo on the way to Colva Prison. As they pass through the squalid Colva town, Olivia reflects on the pitiful conditions in which many of the city’s poor have to live. Here, she thinks about the heartbreaking conditions in Behala. Through Olivia’s voice, Mulligan shows that children who are born on the landfill usually never make it off, meaning they’re condemned to live amid rotting trash for their whole lives. As the reader has learned, when children attempt to venture out of Behala, they are typically ignored or they face great risks of imprisonment, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam offic

They’re poor. They do many things.

Related Characters: Gardo (speaker), Gabriel Olondriz, Olivia Weston (Sister Olivia)

Page Number and Citation: 104

Explanation and Analysis:

Olivia, a volunteer at the charity-run Mission School on the Behala dumpsite, has been duped into accompanying Gardo into Colva Prison. Gardo wants to meet with with a political prisoner named Gabriel Olondriz to help him decode a cryptic letter, and so he pretends that Olondriz is his grandfather. As Olivia and Gardo walk to the prison’s hospital, they pass through a large, stifling warehouse full of emaciated prisoners—including many children—stacked on top of one another in tiny cages, all stinking of urine and sweat. Olivia is horrified and disturbed by what she witnesses—she can’t fathom why children would be Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commo

What matters is that forty years ago I came upon information that Senator Zapanta had spirited away thirty million dollars of international aid money […] But no schools or hospitals were ever built, and the city stayed poor.

Related Characters: Olivia Weston (Sister Olivia) (speaker), Gabriel Olondriz (speaker), Rat / Jun / Jun-Jun, Gardo, José Angelico , Senor Zapanta (vice-president)

Page Number and Citation: 104

Explanation and Analysis:

Gabriel Olondriz, an old and frail political prisoner in Colva Prison, explains to Gardo and Olivia how he wound up in prison. His explanation clues the reader in to specific details about the crimes of the corrupt vice-president (and the story’s antagonist), Senator Zapanta. Olondriz reveals that Senator Zapanta lined his personal vault with international aid money that was intended for the city’s poor. Whereas other characters steal throughout the story (for instance, José Angelico steals Zapanta’s fortune and Rat steals money from the Mission School), Mulligan draws a clear distinction between theft for survival or the common good and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus volup

I had so much evidence. Unfortunately for me, I was naïve. My office was raided. The same night there was a terrible fire at my house. I was away but both my maid and my driver were killed in it. And every scrap of evidence went up in smoke.

Related Characters: Gabriel Olondriz (speaker), Gardo, Olivia Weston (Sister Olivia) , Senor Zapanta (vice-president)

Page Number and Citation: 104

Explanation and Analysis:

While Gabriel Olondriz is explaining how he wound up in prison to Gardo and Olivia, he reveals that he was targeted by the corrupt Senator Zapanta after discovering evidence that would incriminate Zapanta many years earlier. Here, Olondriz explains how his evidence literally “went up in smoke” and he also reveals that Zapanta essentially murdered two people when Olondriz’s house was burned down. So far, the reader has learned that Zapanta is a colossal thief who robbed a nation of the chance to pull its citizens out of abject poverty. Now, Mulligan strengthens his case against Zapanta through Olondriz’s voice, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus

I learned perhaps more than any university could ever teach me.

Related Characters: Olivia Weston (Sister Olivia) (speaker), Olivia’s father, Gabriel Olondriz, Gardo

Page Number and Citation: 149

Explanation and Analysis:

Midway through the story, Olivia is arrested because she and Gardo visited a political prisoner named Gabriel Olondriz in Colva Prison. Luckily, Olivia’s well-connected father sends a man from the British Embassy to negotiate for her release, and Olivia immediately leaves the country. Here, she reflects on what she learned during her year in Behala: she’s adamant that her exposure to life on the ground among impoverished people transcends anything she could have learned about the world in a textbook. Through Olivia’s reflections, Mulligan broadens his argument about the value of life experience in teaching people life skills that are Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus

Olivia Weston (Sister Olivia) Character Timeline in Trash

The timeline below shows where the character Olivia Weston (Sister Olivia) appears in Trash. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Intelligence, Education, and Street Smarts Theme Icon

Father Juilliard explains that the house mother, Sister Olivia, is actually—and foolishly—more involved in Raphael’s tale. One Thursday, a thin and ashy Jun offers... (full context)

...hands make Father Juilliard “wince.” Juilliard has grown very fond of Jun, as has Sister Olivia. Olivia wants to adopt Jun, but foreigners usually can’t do so—this saddens Father Juilliard because... (full context)

Olivia Weston, the 22-year-old house-mother at the Mission School, says she also has a part in... (full context)

...day after Raphael returns from the police station, Jun brings him and Gardo to visit Olivia. When Raphael arrived at Behala, bloody and beaten, the whole neighborhood came out because when... (full context)

Olivia says that her vanity allowed the boys to manipulate her. She takes Gardo alone with... (full context)

...says that had he known what the boys were up to, he would have warned Olivia that it was a “scam.” He hates to say it, but the children in Behala... (full context)

The taxi drives Olivia and Gardo to a “squalid” part of the city, even more so than Behala. Still,... (full context)

...a long wait, a friendly man named Mr. Oliva comes in. He’s immediately charmed by Olivia immediately and he thanks her for volunteering in their poor city. Mr. Oliva suggests that... (full context)

In Colva Prison, Olivia is shocked to see a maze of small cages stacked on top of one another... (full context)

A frail Gabriel Olondriz—who looks to be on the brink of death—greets Olivia, happy for the company. Olivia is confused that he doesn’t greet Gardo, who freezes and... (full context)

In the present day, Gardo says that he’s sorry about tricking Olivia. Rat wanted to confide in Olivia, but Gardo refused, and for that he’s sorry. Gardo... (full context)

Back at Colva Prison, Olivia is confused about how so much money could disappear. Gabriel Olondriz explains that this can... (full context)

...“luminous,” and he takes Gardo’s hands. Olondriz knows Gardo is a dumpsite boy because, like Olivia, he’s volunteered with them—he knows that even under clean clothes, the smell never goes away.... (full context)

In the present, Raphael apologizes to Olivia: he hopes to see her again and to thank her in person. Meanwhile, Raphael and... (full context)

...out a metal box containing a “fortune” of 2,326 pesos: he’s been charming people like Olivia out of money and saving by not eating. Rat isn’t from Behala—he came from Sampalo... (full context)

...that he’ll bring it to Gardo later. Outside the prison, Gardo explains what transpired to Olivia and he warns her that things are getting dangerous, for her too. (full context)

The next morning, Gabriel Olondriz dies peacefully in prison. Olivia assumes that Marco realized the Bible was valuable. She doesn’t know what happened next because... (full context)

Olivia Weston (Sister Olivia) Character Analysis

Olivia Weston (Sister Olivia) Quotes in Trash

Part 1: Chapter 5 Quotes

Part 3: Chapter 1 Quotes

Part 3: Chapter 3 Quotes

Part 3: Chapter 4 Quotes

Part 3: Chapter 5 Quotes

Part 3: Chapter 7 Quotes

Part 3: Chapter 10 Quotes

Olivia Weston (Sister Olivia) Character Timeline in Trash