Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Ocean at the End of the Lane, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Childhood vs. Adulthood
Memory, Perception, and Reality
Knowledge and Identity
Fear, Bravery, and Friendship
Summary
Analysis
Lettie steps into the fairy ring carrying a heavy bucket of water. She apologizes for the wait; Old Mrs. Hempstock had to help her get the ocean into the bucket. Old Mrs. Hempstock is napping now. The water in the bucket glows and lights Lettie’s face. She assures the narrator that everything will be fine and praises him for staying put, which makes the narrator forget his fear. He takes Lettie’s hand, and when she tells him to step into the bucket, he does it without question. When the narrator’s second foot hits the water, his entire body drops, and he panics. Lettie still has his hand, but he doesn’t know how to swim. He gulps, and though the water fills his lungs, he can breathe.
Again, Lettie’s friendship, kindness, and compassion makes the narrator trust her—he feels like he can do anything. Thus, though he panics when he drops into the water, the panic isn’t as severe as it might be otherwise—Lettie still has his hand, after all. With the narrator’s hand, Lettie tethers him to what he knows is true and real (their friendship) and provides him an anchor. From this anchor, he can securely explore the new world around him.
Themes
The narrator thinks that there must just be a secret to breathing underwater. Then, he thinks that he knows everything. As the ocean flows into the narrator, it “fill[s] the entire universe, from Egg to Rose”—and the narrator knows what Egg and what Rose are (the beginning and the end of the universe). He knows that Old Mrs. Hempstock will be there for the next Big Bang, and he knows that the world is fragile. His reality is a thin layer of good over terrifying nightmares. The narrator opens his eyes and sees that he’s hanging deep underwater. He turns to look at Lettie and barely understands what he sees. Lettie is made up of silk, ice-colored sheets and a hundred candles. The narrator knows that candles can burn under water, just as he understands what Dark Matter is.
The things that the narrator understands while he’s in Lettie’s “ocean” suggests that this body of water is a sort of ocean of knowledge. If one is in it, one can know everything—including what people really are on the inside. This chance to know everything helps the narrator momentarily make sense of things and gives him a vantage point that’s very different from his own. As a child, the narrator has a very limited view of the world around him. From inside the ocean, the narrator can see the world in a way that may seem more adult to him—but really, it’s more than even adults can see.
Themes
The narrator thinks that there’s an ocean running under the entire universe, but it can fit in a bucket if Old Mrs. Hempstock helps. He wonders what he looks like to Lettie but also recognizes that this is the one thing he can’t know, even in this place that is full of knowledge.” The silk Lettie turns and apologizes. The narrator isn’t cold or hungry, and he feels like the world is simple and easy. He vows to stay here forever, but Lettie says this would destroy him, not kill him; he’d eventually spread out everywhere and he’d lose his sense of self. The narrator wants to argue, but his head suddenly bursts out of the water. He finds himself standing in the pond at the Hempstocks’, coughing.
When the narrator recognizes that the only thing he can’t know is what he looks like, it suggests that the real journey of life is to discover one’s own identity. It’s technically possible, the novel suggests, to know everything else—but discovering the essence of oneself is a lifelong, never-ending quest. Lettie adds more nuance to this, though: it’s also impossible to know everything and still function in the world, as knowing everything takes attention away from oneself and deprives a person of their individuality.
Themes
The narrator coughs, and for another moment, he still knows everything. Lettie pulls the narrator out of the pond, and he discovers that his clothes are dry. The ocean is back in the pond, and the narrator no longer knows everything—but he knows that moments ago, he did. He asks Lettie if that’s how it is for her: if she knows everything, all the time. Lettie says it’s boring to know everything—she gave that up to be in this world. She explains that everyone used to know everything, but one must give that up if they want to play. To explain what that means, she simply waves at the house and the sky. The narrator has no idea what she means.
Since the narrator is back to his immature, childish form and its associated level of understanding, Lettie’s explanation eludes him. What she seems to suggest, however, is that to be human is to not know—instead, it’s to search, to discover, and to play. This also suggests that Lettie would have people behave in a way that the narrator might deem childish, given the way that the narrator described adults as boring and content to form routines, while children are explorers.
Themes
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Lettie asks the narrator if he’s hungry and suddenly, he is. In the kitchen, there’s a plate of shepherd’s pie waiting for him. He digs in happily as Lettie and Ginnie discuss what to do about the hunger birds. Ginnie doesn’t believe they should take the birds very seriously, while Lettie frets that there are more than she’s ever seen. Lettie also points out that they’ve never actually had to send the hunger birds away before; they always just left. When she asks where they came from, Ginnie says it doesn’t matter—the birds will get bored and go home, and they’re not getting onto the farm. She serves the narrator dessert, and he eats it happily. The adult narrator says that he doesn’t miss childhood, but he does miss how he could be so happy with dessert on the possible eve of his death.
The adult narrator’s aside at the end of this passage suggests that his experience as an adult has been complicated to the point that he can’t enjoy simple pleasures anymore. From adulthood, the narrator can say with conviction that being an adult doesn’t allow for these moments of joy and contentedness. However, it’s also possible that the narrator is idealizing this childhood memory; the fact still remains that the hunger birds want to destroy the narrator, just like they destroyed Ursula. He may fixate on his ability to enjoy simple pleasures because it gives him something normal to hang onto.
Themes
The narrator asks if the kitten is still around. Ginnie says she isn’t, and the narrator realizes he wants to say goodbye. Slowly, he begins to ask Ginnie to say something to his parents if he dies tonight, but Ginnie interrupts and says firmly that no one is going to die. She changes into boots and a coat. Lettie seems less sure, but the narrator reminds himself that Lettie is just a kid. Regardless, he still trusts the Hempstocks. Ginnie explains that Old Mrs. Hempstock is still napping as the narrator takes Lettie’s hand. He promises himself he won’t let go.
Of course, the narrator wants to believe that everyone is going to come out of this okay—so Ginnie’s insistence that everyone will be fine is naturally more comforting than Lettie’s nervousness. When the narrator takes Lettie’s hand, it suggests that once again, they’re stepping out into the unknown—but the narrator now knows that he can tether himself to something known and safe by holding tight to his friend.
Themes
