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
After the boat races, Harry and Aunty Jean go out to lunch in Fern Tree. Harry offers to pay for their meal with the $4.50 he has left from his twenty-dollar bill. Touched at the offer, Aunty Jean muses that Harry is just like his mum and begins to cry. Her emotional reaction makes Harry uncomfortable, so he goes to the bathroom and takes his time washing his hands to let Aunty Jean compose herself.
As Aunty Jean weeps at the memory of her sister, the reader can deduce that Mum died at some point in the past, perhaps tragically. Jean’s public display of emotion suggests that she has raw, unresolved feelings about Mum’s death, while Harry would prefer not to confront the pain of losing his mother.
Themes
After arriving back on Bruny Island, Aunty Jean leaves the groceries on the porch and refuses to go inside to visit. She and the boys’ father have been feuding since Uncle Nick died and she forced Dad to take out another loan in order to buy Nick’s share of the boat. Dad pays no attention to Harry when he comes inside the house and tells him about the groceries.
Having lost both her sister and her husband, it is clear that Aunty Jean harbors hard feelings toward Dad and that grief has had a significant impact on the Curren family. Dad’s cold behavior toward Harry suggests that the loss of Mum and Uncle Nick likely had detrimental effects on him, as well.
Themes
Harry is ecstatic to give Miles the goodie bag from the fair, but Miles warns him to keep his voice down since Dad has a headache. Harry notices that Miles’s hands are swollen and blistered from his day on the fishing boat. After the boys unpack the groceries in the kitchen and Miles offers Dad another beer, Harry excitedly digs into his own goodie bag. Miles is too exhausted to open his and tells Harry that he is lucky he gets seasick because he will never have to work on the boat.
Harry’s sweet gesture shows his thoughtfulness and deep love for his older brother. Miles, however, is unable to muster up innocent joy over the goodie bags, as he has been forced to sacrifice his own youthful pastimes to work on the fishing boat. Miles’s sentiment that Harry’s seasickness makes him lucky emphasizes the dismal working conditions he is made to endure and brings the boys’ father’s judgment into question.
Themes
