I get uncomfortable when people give me presents and watch me open them. I don’t have birthday parties, because the idea of a group of people singing and looking at me while I’m blowing out candles gives me hives.

Marling frames gift-opening and birthday rituals as forms of enforced attention—moments when social convention turns a private feeling (gratitude, celebration) into a performance. Her discomfort suggests an introverted or privacy-protective temperament, but also a critique of how communal rituals can pressure individuals to display the “right” emotions on cue. The hyperbole of “gives me hives” underscores that this isn’t mild awkwardness; it’s a visceral anxiety response to being watched and evaluated. Read more broadly, the quote speaks to the tension between authenticity and social expectation: even affectionate traditions can feel invasive when they require being the center of a crowd’s gaze.