Here If You Need Me By Kate Braestrup: Literary Analysis

Losing a loved one is something no one wants, but that is exactly what happens to Kate Braestrup in her memoir “Here if You Need Me.” Braestrup’s husband, a state trooper, was on his way to work when a truck rammed into the driver’s side of his cruiser. Kate loved her husband so much that in honor of him she decided to pursue his dream to be in the ministry and ended up as the chaplain for the Maine (game) Warden Service. “Here if You Need Me,” by Kate Braestrup uses her grief, supportiveness, and affection to show that awful things happen for a reason and life will be okay in the end. As soon as Braestrup found out about her husband, naturally, she went into a state of grief. The book shows us how she gets over that grief and finds joy in

The main point of her book is that bad things happen to people, but there is always someone there to help them get over the bad things whether it be God, a chaplain, or a close friend. She implies this in many of the cases she has been to, including her own. “Mrs. Levesque will put me to use as witness, as crutch, as Kleenex, as proxy for Jean-Pierre-a temporary substitute for all the neighbors, church folk, friends, and family members who will soon come bursting through her door to share her grief” (96). It is shown here that Braestrup comforts a woman as she mourns over her lost husband. Someone was there to hold her and even when Braestrup leaves, more people will come to hold and comfort her. “I was no longer a stranger-I had held him in my arms, had his snot on my lapels-so he spoke frankly” (110). Braestrup is talking to a brother who just lost his sister due to her depression. She was there for him when he broke down, the moment he needed someone to hold him; if she had not been there, he would not have been able to live peacefully knowing that his sister was in a bad

She cares for her children with all her heart, supports the people she works with, and comforts the people who have lost family. “‘I’m not really here to keep you from freaking out,’ or grieve or laugh or suffer or sing. It is a ministry of presence. It is showing up with a loving heart. And it is really, really cool” (119). This shows that Braestrup feels good helping people, even if she the person is pouring their hearts out to her and all she does is listen, she is helping. “’ I think one reason I like working with crisis and death is that all the complicated and complicating tools of our natal tribe-the intellect, rational analysis, the all-pervasive irony-all these are useless…’” (204). What Braestrup means here is that when she is at a case, things like education and money do not matter and all that does is the love a person has for their loved ones. This shows that she has affection, because she enjoys watching other people care for each