Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Past the Shallows, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Brotherhood, Loyalty, and Hardship
Addiction and Abuse
Tragedy and Blame
Father Figures and Responsibility
The Duality of Nature
Summary
Analysis
Joe, Miles, and Harry Curren are brothers living in a remote fishing town on Bruny Island off the southeastern coast of Tasmania, Australia. One day, Joe and Miles are preparing to surf on Cloudy Bay beach while Harry looks out at the ocean. Harry, the youngest of the three, reflects on the omnipresent, persistent nature of the water. He asks his brothers what he should look for on the beach that day and Miles teases him about finding a shark egg. Unsure if his brother is joking, Harry runs off down the beach.
As the story begins, the Curren brothers are characterized as a tightly-knit trio who enjoy their time together at the beach. Harry is revealed to be especially insightful despite being the youngest of the three, as he is deeply perceptive about the power and breadth of the ocean’s waters. Although clearly mature for his age, Harry’s skittish reaction toward Miles’s comment about the shark egg reinforces his relative innocence and naïveté compared to his older brothers.
Themes
As he runs along the shoreline, Harry observes a cormorant bird gliding close to the water’s surface, noticing the peculiarity of seeing a solitary bird without its family. He resists the urge to touch the bird and worries that it might be sick or lost. Harry then ventures into the dunes to hunt for driftwood or other treasures.
Harry’s concern for the cormorant indicates his compassion for animals as well as an awareness of family’s importance for the individual. While he, too, has voluntarily separated from his family (having dashed away from his brothers to wander the beach on his own), Harry associates the bird’s solitude with a state of illness or confusion.
Themes
Picking up an abalone shell, Harry experiences a sudden awareness of Bruny Island’s rich history and of his own mortality, reflecting on all the people who have stood in the same spot before him and since died. This realization unsettles Harry and he drops the shell and runs back to the beach.
Harry’s appreciation for his own personal lineage and that of his environment is another indication of his unusually mature mindset. Whereas his brothers are content to surf, Harry is preoccupied by the deeper, metaphysical significance of the beach. Additionally, his concern for his own mortality implies that he may be more well-acquainted with death than the average young child.
Themes
Back at the beach, Harry waits for his older brothers to come back in from surfing. Joe returns to shore first and they have a picnic together. Eating his sandwich, Harry reflects on how ancient the natural landscape of Bruny Island is. Joe does not pay attention to him, his mind still focused on surfing with Miles.
Harry is awestruck and unsettled by the grand power of the environment that surrounds them, but his older brothers are more focused on the entertainment value and escapism that nature allows. Their tendency to ignore Harry suggests that they gravitate more toward their external lives, while Harry’s focus is inward.
Themes
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