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
At the hazel thicket beside the lane, Lettie breaks off a small branch, strips it of bark, and splits it so it looks like a Y. She holds the two ends in her hands and says that their first target is something blue and shiny. The narrator looks around and spots a bluebell in the field. At the bluebell, Lettie holds the wand out again—next is something black and soft. They walk until they find a scrap of black cloth, and then they look for a red thing. The red turns out to be the corpse of a small animal that’s covered in blood. Lettie tells the narrator to hold onto her arm; they’re looking for a storm now, and they’re getting closer. It begins to thunder as they come upon a clearing in the wood, and the narrator thinks he feels a pulse go through Lettie’s arm. Lettie stumbles and says that “it” knows they’re coming and that “it” doesn’t want them around.
With the help of her wand, Lettie is seemingly able to see, feel, and understand things that the narrator isn’t—another indicator that two people can experience the exact same event in wildly different ways. Though the narrator is able to follow along and help find their various targets as they go along, he, unlike Lettie, doesn’t understand why they’re doing this or what exactly they’re looking for. Not having this information makes the experience more frightening for the narrator.
Themes
Lettie grins as the wind blows and something rumbles in the dark clouds. She pulls the narrator down and shushes him as a sort of brown, furry rug with sharp teeth flaps over them. When it’s gone, Lettie tells that narrator that it’s a manta wolf. Lettie spins but can’t feel their target, so she asks the narrator to put the shilling on the fork of the stick. As they turn, the tip of the wand bursts into flame—but when the narrator picks his coin up, it’s cold. Lettie takes the narrator’s hand as they walk on and instructs him to not let go, no matter what.
Lettie asking the narrator to hold onto her hand implies that whatever they’re heading for is frightening—but if the narrator remains tethered to Lettie and trusts her, they’ll get through this and be okay. Casually mentioning a manta wolf (seemingly a mythical species) with no explanation makes it clear that there’s far more going on here than the narrator understands—and thus, the focus of this experience is the narrator and Lettie’s friendship, not the supernatural events.
Themes
When the narrator says he’s afraid, Lettie explains that they’re farther out than she expected and that she’s not sure what’s out here—though they’re still on Hempstock Farm. However, the farm came from the old country, and with the farm came what Old Mrs. Hempstock calls fleas. The narrator doesn’t believe that they’re still on the farm or that he’s in the real world. The coin becomes cold, and Lettie says they’ve arrived. Against the orange sky, the narrator sees a huge canvas thing with a face cut into it. The narrator whimpers. Lettie asks the thing for its name, but the creature refuses to tell her. Lettie’s accent grows stronger as she angrily demands the creature’s name, but the creature only asks who the narrator is. Lettie whispers for the narrator to say silent.
One thing that makes Lettie such a good friend is that she never minimizes the narrator’s fears or lies to him. Instead, she admits when she’s out of her element and tells him what she does know about what’s going on—and how the narrator can stay safe. Lettie’s bravery in the face of this creature speaks to how much she cares about humans as a whole. She’s dealing with this creature, as Old Mrs. Hempstock told her to, so that her human neighbors can once again live in peace. Lettie is thus a friend to humanity, not just to the narrator.
Themes
The canvas creature sighs and says that something came to her and said that she could make things happy if she gave them money. Lettie says that the creature needs to “let them be,” which makes the creature flap around so it’s looking directly at Lettie and the narrator. Lettie squeezes the narrator’s hand as the thing studies the narrator, and Lettie says she’ll “bind” the creature as a “nameless thing.” She begins to sing in a strange language to the tune of a child’s song. Worms writhe out of the ground, and something flies at Lettie and the narrator. Though the narrator normally misses balls when he tries to catch them, he puts his hands out and catches the writhing, rotting cloth. At the same time, something stabs the narrator in the foot. Lettie knocks away the ball and grabs the narrator’s hand.
Because Lettie can’t extract the creature’s name, she misses important information she needs to effectively “bind” it. In this case, not even Lettie has the information or the skills to navigate this situation effectively. The fact that the narrator manages to catch this flying cloth ball when he can’t catch anything else suggests that this creature may have some insight into how people like the narrator function—perhaps it understands that he wants to protect Lettie and be brave for her, just as she wants to protect him.
Themes
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The narrator recognizes Lettie’s song as “the language of shaping” and explains that in the years after this, he often dreams in the language. He understands that Lettie is binding the creature to this specific place. As Lettie finishes her song, the narrator thinks he can hear the creature screaming in his mind—but then, everything goes quiet. Lettie begins to lead the narrator back. They reach a field planted with odd, furry, snake-like things. Lettie offers to let the narrator pull one up, and he unearths a sleek black kitten with a white ear. The narrator asks if he can take it home, but Lettie says that it’s a “she” and that it’s not good to take things home from this place.
Pulling up a kitten out of a field makes this supernatural world seem far more whimsical and significantly less frightening. This begins to help the narrator understand that just as his own world is filled with both wonder and horror, so, too, is this mirror universe. Lettie makes it very clear that it’s important to properly gender something. This is how the narrator will be able to show this kitten respect—and all creatures, the novel suggests, deserve respect.
Themes
The narrator tells Lettie about his kitten, Fluffy’s, death, and Lettie laments that living things don’t last very long before they become memories and fade. When she and the narrator reach a gate, they enter onto the lane. Lettie checks that the narrator is all right, and the narrator insists he is. He hopes that this is the right answer.
What Lettie has to say about living things becoming memories again suggests that she’s older than 11—and no one, no matter how magical they might be, can remember everything.
Themes
