Everyone experiences different events in their lives, and often they suffer from the pain of past. Yet, the most essential part of life is how some changes can help one to escape their past and begin a new journey. In E. Annie Proulx’s novel, The Shipping News, she presents a character who is a failure in life, and his cowardly action brings him to suffer in pain. But, the change that he risks to make, changes his life, and moves him forward. By displaying characters’ pasts and focusing on their change, E. Annie Proulx shows that it is possible to escape one’s past, and necessary change should be embraced. Throughout the book, Proulx used characterization and symbolism to display the essential development of transformation, and presents the story of Quoyle. The story often starts with the main character’s …show more content…
Similar to Quoyle, her childhood wasn’t peaceful at all. Her brother, Quoyle’s father raped Agnis repeatedly when she was young. As young child Agnis did not know how to react, letting her brother kept taking advantage of her, but she believed that “it is possible to escape the burdens of the past and also that change, while inevitable, is not necessarily to be feared” (Plot Summary). Later, Quoyle found out that Agnis named her dog Warren, just to hear her dead lover’s name every day. Quoyle, who does not know much about his aunt’s life in the past, asked for advice for his situation. Yet Agnis’s advice made him felt that Agnis has no clue what Quoyle have been through, therefore she’s commenting easily. The lack of Quoyle understands of human life created irony in Agnis’ past and Quoyle’s knowledge (Flavin). Agnis experienced more than Quoyle know, and she’s giving advices that she learned from her past. Agnis acts as a foil in the story, helping Quoyle to walk through his depression, while also demonstrating how past can be