The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2013

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Chapter 4

Chapters 5-9

Chapter 10-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Symbols & Motifs

Coins

Coins are key to the plot of The Ocean at the End of the Lane. The narrator awakens while choking on a coin, and his sister accuses him of hurling coins at her. The coins derive from a wish made by the spirit of a dead opal miner, who begs the supernatural creature Skarthach (Ursula) to bring money to those he cheated in life. Skarthach agrees but dispenses cash in ways that cause harm. The coins are a way for Skarthach, in her Ursula form, to more effectively manipulate people and feed off the resulting misery.

Hempstock Farm

Hempstock Farm is ancient: It’s existed for hundreds of years, maybe more. Its farmhouse and many acres straddle two realms, the normal one of everyday human life and a mysteriously magical one filled with wonders and dangers. On the farm grounds, the narrator and Lettie encounter a strange, angry being, “Skarthach of the Keep” (165), who wants to enter the normal realm and please herself by wreaking havoc among humans. The narrator’s visit to the farm entangles him in its alternate reality, as he is unable to completely to shake off its residue (in the form of a worm, then Ursula). The farm is thus both a place of sanctuary and a source of danger to the boy and his family. It’s the arena on which much of the story takes place.

Hempstock Farmhouse

The Hempstock farmhouse has a huge kitchen where the narrator spends many happy hours talking to the three Hempstocks and enjoying their delicious meals. Attached to the kitchen is a large wing with bedrooms lit by fireplaces and candles. The narrator contrasts the warmth and understanding he finds at the farmhouse with his own house, where his completely normal family somehow don’t comprehend him at all. As a literary device, the farmhouse, with its solid brick construction and old-fashioned characteristics, serves as a symbol of safety that simultaneously lies atop a world of knowledge and mystery quite different from the everyday one.

The Pond/Ocean

Out behind the Hempstock farmhouse is a pond, waist-deep in the middle, that Lettie calls an “ocean.” The narrator thinks she’s imagining things until she saves his life by dipping him in the pond, which suddenly transforms into a fathomless ocean that contains all knowledge, wisdom, and creative power. The pond is thus a portal to a larger reality from which springs life in Earth’s universe. It exists in the background for most of the story and appears in its true immensity during two scenes near the end of the story. It’s a source and symbol of the immense capabilities of the Hempstocks, the engine that powers the farm and its residents.

The Wormhole

When visiting the alternate reality on Hempstock Farm, the boy briefly lets go of Lettie’s hand, and a bit of this reality enters his foot in the form of a worm (specifically, a wormhole) that transports an alien creature (Ursula). He removes most of the worm and throws it away; this part becomes Ursula, who manifests as a beautiful woman with evil intentions. A small part of the worm remains in the boy’s foot, and the Hempstocks remove it: It’s the wormhole that permits passage between the magical and human realms.

However, the wormhole remains incomplete because a small portion of it is lodged in the boy’s heart. This part gets cleaned out of the human realm when the hunger birds tear out the boy’s heart and consume it. The wormhole represents the ease with which evil can “worm” its way into ordinary lives, and the difficulty of removing evil once it becomes entrenched.