Past the Shallows

by

Favel Parrett

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Past the Shallows makes teaching easy.

Dad/Steven Curren Character Analysis

The father of Harry, Miles, and Joe Curren. Although it is implied that Dad was once a typical father figure, he succumbs to an alcohol addiction and becomes terribly abusive after the deaths of Mum (his wife) and Uncle Nick (his brother-in-law). Throughout the story, Dad is the prevailing source of hardship in the lives of Harry, Miles, and Joe. Although Dad works hard as an abalone fisherman, he fails to fully provide for his three sons, ignoring Harry and Miles to spend evenings in the local pub and leaving them hungry and neglected at home. After his fisherman Martin is injured and forced to take a leave of absence, Dad is increasingly influenced by his other fisherman Jeff’s sinister tendencies and begins risking his livelihood to illegally fish in protected waters as he spirals deeper into alcoholism. In addition to his neglect and impulsive actions, Dad is also physically abusive, breaking Joe’s arm and encouraging Jeff to attack Harry and Miles. While his addiction and subsequent cruelty initially seem to be rooted in grief, it gradually becomes clear that Dad has been lying about the circumstances of Mum and Nick’s deaths and that his own self-blame is what causes him to lash out. He confesses to Miles that Mum was having an affair with Uncle Nick and implies that Harry and Joe may be Nick’s biological sons rather than his own. Dad’s destructive behavior culminates in the ultimate act of cruelty when he throws Harry overboard off the fishing boat to his death.

Dad/Steven Curren Quotes in Past the Shallows

The Past the Shallows quotes below are all either spoken by Dad/Steven Curren or refer to Dad/Steven Curren. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Brotherhood, Loyalty, and Hardship Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

Water that was always there. Always everywhere. The sound and the smell and the cold waves making Harry different. And it wasn’t just because he was the youngest. He knew the way he felt about the ocean would never leave him now. It would be there always, right inside him.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Joe Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Mum
Related Symbols: Water
Page Number: 3
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

First day of school holidays. First day he must man the boat alone while the men go down. Old enough now, he must take his place. Just like his brother before him, he must fill the gap Uncle Nick left.

Related Characters: Miles Curren, Joe Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Uncle Nick, Granddad, Jeff, Martin
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:

There were things that no one would teach you—things about the water. You just knew them or you didn’t and no one could tell you how to read it. How to feel it. Miles knew the water. He could feel it. And he knew not to trust it.

Related Characters: Miles Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Uncle Nick, Jeff, Martin
Related Symbols: Water
Page Number: 12
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

He used to feel sorry for the abs when he was young. The way they pulsed and moved in the tubs, sensing the bright light and heat. But he couldn’t think about them like that now. He was only careful not to cut or bruise them, because once abs started to bleed, they kept on bleeding until all the liquid inside was gone. They just dried up and died.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Uncle Nick, Mum, Granddad, Jeff, Martin
Page Number: 30-31
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

And if you didn’t know better, you’d think that no one lived here anymore. That all these places were abandoned. But people were in there somewhere, hidden and burrowed in. They were there.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Joe Curren, Dad/Steven Curren
Page Number: 41
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

It was fully formed, more than half a yard long, maybe only days away from being born. It would have survived if Jeff had just let it go, let it slide off the back of the boat. It had made it this far, battling its siblings, killing and feeding off them. Waiting. It would have been born strong, ready to hunt, ready to fight.

Related Characters: Miles Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Jeff, Martin
Page Number: 51
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

“Don’t you get stuck here with your dad,” he said. “Don’t you let him…You’re too young to be out there working, Miles. It’s not right.”

Miles felt the words sink down right inside him.

“You’ve had it rough enough,” he said.

Related Characters: Mr. Roberts/Brian (speaker), Miles Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Justin Roberts
Page Number: 72
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

Maybe that’s why Joe and Miles liked it so much. And he knew that Granddad would have taken him. It was just that he was too little, too small to go, when Granddad had been alive. And if Granddad hadn’t died then he definitely would have taken Harry fishing, too. And it would have been good, like this was.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Joe Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, George Fuller, Uncle Nick, Granddad
Related Symbols: Water
Page Number: 102
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22 Quotes

He lived for this, for these moments when everything stops except your heart beating and time bends and ripples—moves past your eyes frame by frame and you feel beyond time and before time and no one can touch you.

Related Characters: Miles Curren, Joe Curren, Dad/Steven Curren
Related Symbols: Water
Page Number: 124
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

Then they heard Dad yelling from inside. Yelling at them, at everyone. Yelling at no one. And Miles could hear the words. They came through the brown walls, through the air, and cracked open the night: “I never wanted you.”

Related Characters: Dad/Steven Curren (speaker), Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Joe Curren, Uncle Nick, Mum, Jeff
Page Number: 135
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

And it nearly made Harry cry now, the way Miles’s eyelid was all purple and cut—the bruise on the side of his face coming up bad. Harry put his hand in his pocket and felt for the sock that held his leftover money. He pulled it out.

“You should take this,” he said. “You might need it.”

Miles shook his head. “You keep it,” he said and he tried to smile.

Related Characters: Harry Curren (speaker), Miles Curren (speaker), Dad/Steven Curren, George Fuller, Mum, Aunty Jean, Jeff, Stuart Phillips
Page Number: 152-153
Explanation and Analysis:

…Harry didn’t see him come back. There was just the backpack with some clothes left by the door of the trailer and inside, near the top, were some chocolates and the bright orange dart gun from his Bertie Beetle goodie bag.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, George Fuller, Jeff, Stuart Phillips
Page Number: 153
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 35 Quotes

…he looked so young and small, like no time had ever passed by since he was the baby in the room and Joe had told Miles to be nice to him and help Mum out. And Miles had thought he wouldn’t like it. But Harry had a way about him. A way that made you promise to take care of him.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Joe Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Mum, Jeff
Page Number: 187
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 36 Quotes

He just kept starting at Harry. And his hand moved away from Harry’s hair, moved down to the string around his neck. And he cupped it in his palm—a white pointer’s tooth.

“It’s his,” he said, and his face went pale. “His.”

He let the tooth go. He stared down at Harry.

“She was leaving, because of him. Because of you.”

Related Characters: Dad/Steven Curren (speaker), Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Uncle Nick, Mum, Jeff
Related Symbols: Water, The Shark Tooth
Page Number: 198
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 37 Quotes

But ultimately it wasn’t up to you. This ocean could hold you down for as long as it liked, and Miles knew it.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Uncle Nick, Mum
Related Symbols: Water
Page Number: 204-205
Explanation and Analysis:

There was a black emptiness inside him and it was all that he could see. He tried to imagine a fire in the darkness, and at first it was just one blue flame too small to feel. But he willed it on, felt the first flicker of warmth as it grew. Then it raged, turned into a ball of fire, orange and red and hungry. It devoured his stomach, moved up to his lungs, his back. Moved into his heart. He shared it with Harry through his skin.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Mum
Related Symbols: Water, Light
Page Number: 208
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 39 Quotes

He had been drifting for a lifetime and his mind had lost its way. It was dissolving and he had forgotten about Harry, forgotten about all the things that came before. There was only this vastness, the swing of a giant pendulum—water receding then flooding back. And he was part of it. Part of the deep water, part of the waves. Part of the rocks and reefs along the shore.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Uncle Nick, Mum
Related Symbols: Water
Page Number: 213
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 41 Quotes

He listened to Joe talk about all the places they would go, the tropical islands and clear warm water, the big bright lights of new cities. The free open space of ocean. And he knew that Joe was going to take him with him, now. Wherever he went. He leaned his head down against his brother’s shoulder. And he let himself cry.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Joe Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Granddad
Related Symbols: Water
Page Number: 224-225
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 42 Quotes

Miles let the rip that ran with the bluff carry him. He enjoyed the ride, felt his hands slipping through the cool water, body floating free. And there was this feeling in him like when it had all just been for fun, the water.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Uncle Nick, Mum
Related Symbols: Water
Page Number: 228
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 43 Quotes

Out past the shallows, past the sandy-bottomed bays, comes the dark water—black and cold and roaring. Rolling out an invisible path, a new line for them to follow.

To somewhere warm.

To somewhere new.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Joe Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, George Fuller, Jake
Related Symbols: Water
Page Number: 238
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Past the Shallows LitChart as a printable PDF.
Past the Shallows PDF

Dad/Steven Curren Quotes in Past the Shallows

The Past the Shallows quotes below are all either spoken by Dad/Steven Curren or refer to Dad/Steven Curren. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Brotherhood, Loyalty, and Hardship Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1 Quotes

Water that was always there. Always everywhere. The sound and the smell and the cold waves making Harry different. And it wasn’t just because he was the youngest. He knew the way he felt about the ocean would never leave him now. It would be there always, right inside him.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Joe Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Mum
Related Symbols: Water
Page Number: 3
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2 Quotes

First day of school holidays. First day he must man the boat alone while the men go down. Old enough now, he must take his place. Just like his brother before him, he must fill the gap Uncle Nick left.

Related Characters: Miles Curren, Joe Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Uncle Nick, Granddad, Jeff, Martin
Page Number: 9
Explanation and Analysis:

There were things that no one would teach you—things about the water. You just knew them or you didn’t and no one could tell you how to read it. How to feel it. Miles knew the water. He could feel it. And he knew not to trust it.

Related Characters: Miles Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Uncle Nick, Jeff, Martin
Related Symbols: Water
Page Number: 12
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

He used to feel sorry for the abs when he was young. The way they pulsed and moved in the tubs, sensing the bright light and heat. But he couldn’t think about them like that now. He was only careful not to cut or bruise them, because once abs started to bleed, they kept on bleeding until all the liquid inside was gone. They just dried up and died.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Uncle Nick, Mum, Granddad, Jeff, Martin
Page Number: 30-31
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

And if you didn’t know better, you’d think that no one lived here anymore. That all these places were abandoned. But people were in there somewhere, hidden and burrowed in. They were there.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Joe Curren, Dad/Steven Curren
Page Number: 41
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

It was fully formed, more than half a yard long, maybe only days away from being born. It would have survived if Jeff had just let it go, let it slide off the back of the boat. It had made it this far, battling its siblings, killing and feeding off them. Waiting. It would have been born strong, ready to hunt, ready to fight.

Related Characters: Miles Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Jeff, Martin
Page Number: 51
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

“Don’t you get stuck here with your dad,” he said. “Don’t you let him…You’re too young to be out there working, Miles. It’s not right.”

Miles felt the words sink down right inside him.

“You’ve had it rough enough,” he said.

Related Characters: Mr. Roberts/Brian (speaker), Miles Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Justin Roberts
Page Number: 72
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

Maybe that’s why Joe and Miles liked it so much. And he knew that Granddad would have taken him. It was just that he was too little, too small to go, when Granddad had been alive. And if Granddad hadn’t died then he definitely would have taken Harry fishing, too. And it would have been good, like this was.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Joe Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, George Fuller, Uncle Nick, Granddad
Related Symbols: Water
Page Number: 102
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 22 Quotes

He lived for this, for these moments when everything stops except your heart beating and time bends and ripples—moves past your eyes frame by frame and you feel beyond time and before time and no one can touch you.

Related Characters: Miles Curren, Joe Curren, Dad/Steven Curren
Related Symbols: Water
Page Number: 124
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

Then they heard Dad yelling from inside. Yelling at them, at everyone. Yelling at no one. And Miles could hear the words. They came through the brown walls, through the air, and cracked open the night: “I never wanted you.”

Related Characters: Dad/Steven Curren (speaker), Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Joe Curren, Uncle Nick, Mum, Jeff
Page Number: 135
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

And it nearly made Harry cry now, the way Miles’s eyelid was all purple and cut—the bruise on the side of his face coming up bad. Harry put his hand in his pocket and felt for the sock that held his leftover money. He pulled it out.

“You should take this,” he said. “You might need it.”

Miles shook his head. “You keep it,” he said and he tried to smile.

Related Characters: Harry Curren (speaker), Miles Curren (speaker), Dad/Steven Curren, George Fuller, Mum, Aunty Jean, Jeff, Stuart Phillips
Page Number: 152-153
Explanation and Analysis:

…Harry didn’t see him come back. There was just the backpack with some clothes left by the door of the trailer and inside, near the top, were some chocolates and the bright orange dart gun from his Bertie Beetle goodie bag.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, George Fuller, Jeff, Stuart Phillips
Page Number: 153
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 35 Quotes

…he looked so young and small, like no time had ever passed by since he was the baby in the room and Joe had told Miles to be nice to him and help Mum out. And Miles had thought he wouldn’t like it. But Harry had a way about him. A way that made you promise to take care of him.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Joe Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Mum, Jeff
Page Number: 187
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 36 Quotes

He just kept starting at Harry. And his hand moved away from Harry’s hair, moved down to the string around his neck. And he cupped it in his palm—a white pointer’s tooth.

“It’s his,” he said, and his face went pale. “His.”

He let the tooth go. He stared down at Harry.

“She was leaving, because of him. Because of you.”

Related Characters: Dad/Steven Curren (speaker), Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Uncle Nick, Mum, Jeff
Related Symbols: Water, The Shark Tooth
Page Number: 198
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 37 Quotes

But ultimately it wasn’t up to you. This ocean could hold you down for as long as it liked, and Miles knew it.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Uncle Nick, Mum
Related Symbols: Water
Page Number: 204-205
Explanation and Analysis:

There was a black emptiness inside him and it was all that he could see. He tried to imagine a fire in the darkness, and at first it was just one blue flame too small to feel. But he willed it on, felt the first flicker of warmth as it grew. Then it raged, turned into a ball of fire, orange and red and hungry. It devoured his stomach, moved up to his lungs, his back. Moved into his heart. He shared it with Harry through his skin.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Mum
Related Symbols: Water, Light
Page Number: 208
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 39 Quotes

He had been drifting for a lifetime and his mind had lost its way. It was dissolving and he had forgotten about Harry, forgotten about all the things that came before. There was only this vastness, the swing of a giant pendulum—water receding then flooding back. And he was part of it. Part of the deep water, part of the waves. Part of the rocks and reefs along the shore.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Uncle Nick, Mum
Related Symbols: Water
Page Number: 213
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 41 Quotes

He listened to Joe talk about all the places they would go, the tropical islands and clear warm water, the big bright lights of new cities. The free open space of ocean. And he knew that Joe was going to take him with him, now. Wherever he went. He leaned his head down against his brother’s shoulder. And he let himself cry.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Joe Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Granddad
Related Symbols: Water
Page Number: 224-225
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 42 Quotes

Miles let the rip that ran with the bluff carry him. He enjoyed the ride, felt his hands slipping through the cool water, body floating free. And there was this feeling in him like when it had all just been for fun, the water.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, Uncle Nick, Mum
Related Symbols: Water
Page Number: 228
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 43 Quotes

Out past the shallows, past the sandy-bottomed bays, comes the dark water—black and cold and roaring. Rolling out an invisible path, a new line for them to follow.

To somewhere warm.

To somewhere new.

Related Characters: Harry Curren, Miles Curren, Joe Curren, Dad/Steven Curren, George Fuller, Jake
Related Symbols: Water
Page Number: 238
Explanation and Analysis: