I think the biggest theme in Porter's "Holiday" is alienation, which we can see in Ottilie but also in the narrator. Of course, the readers see Ottilie's alienation from the Muller family right away when she serves dinner to them and no one acknowledges her presence. They obviously treat her like a servant that should be invisible. I found this behavior interesting because, although they are a wealthy farming family, they work hard everyday and are not the cliche upper class family that would have servants. They are working class so I would have thought they would acknowledge Ottilie's hard work as well. However, she simply doesn't exist to them. She serves dinner and they don't interact with her unless they need something, like needing her to make dinner for the narrator when she is out late. Ottilie is obviously alienated from the Muller family but the reader doesn't find out just how alienated she is until it is revealed that she is actually one of their daughters. She is the eldest daughter but since she is mute and deformed she is shunned from everyday interaction with her family and is forced into a position of servitude.
Ottilie's alienation is mirrored in the narrator. First of all, she is not a member of the family and is just visiting them for a holiday from her "real life." She does not interact with them as a member of the family but more as an observer. Like Ottilie, she is not able to speak to the family since they speak German. She is not expected to understand them or answer them so her interaction with them is limited to begin with. Her lifestyle also alienates her from the Muller family. She is a single and childless woman in a bursting family. She does not fulfill the female role in the family so they are unsure how to interact with her. In fact they force her into the role that is closest to how she behaves, having her sit with the men at the table since she does not fulfill the role of women in the family. Dinner time is when the family comes together, all except Ottilie. The narrator actually misses dinner one night and that is what brings her together with Ottilie. Both of them are alienated from the family.
When Mother Muller dies, neither Ottilie nor the narrator are included in the funeral. The narrator is left behind in her attic room and Ottilie is left in the kitchen. Together they go out in the wagon to catch up with the funeral party, together in their alienation. Abnormal people in this story are alienated from everyone else. Ottilie is abnormal because she is deformed and mute. The narrator is abnormal because she chooses not to live the stereotypical female role of society of the time, being a wife and a mother.
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I agree; alienation is a major theme running throughout “Holiday”. Simply because Ottilie is deformed and the Muller family does not understand, nor to they wish to understand her, they distance themselves from her. She is a member of their family and yet they treat her as a servant. They do not even acknowledge the hard work that she performs. Every member of the Muller family works; even though Ottilie is not working alongside her family she proves to be one of them by working just as hard in the kitchen. But, then again, she is treated as an outcast because she is not allowed to sit with them during dinner, instead she must serve them as a servant. The one time that Hatsy acknowledges Ottilie’s presence she does not even say that they are sisters. She simply says, “She can’t talk” (Porter 420). No one seems to care about Ottilie and this is very painful.
I really like how you made the connection between this theme of alienation and the narrator as well. I think it is interesting that we never discover the narrators name, which is conveyed as a kind of alienation. A person’s name is their identity; it is a characteristic that makes us who we are and yet this narrator is never named. She is left without an identity and therefore we are alienated from her.
I agree, as well, with the theme of alienation...it is clear that Ottilie is not included in any family outings or events, but I wonder why it is Ottilie that singled out as a servant. She is the oldest, yet she is treated as if she does not belong, incapable/not allowed to speak. Being that her character is mute, her depressed state is only represented through her physical state. She is described as being crippled and deformed, which must reflect her feelings which result from the treatment she receives from her 'family.'
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