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The Ocean At The End Of The Lane Summary

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Literature is replete with many cases and works that touch on the theme of how childhood memories affect one's life during adulthood. Adulthood, childhood, and the connection between the two are evident in Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane. This book explores the creativity and mindset of children told by an adult narrator in the memory of his past. The narrator recounts the difficulties he faced in his childhood by sparking memories tucked away in his brain. While narrating the story, he describes many incidences that compare adults' and children's worldview. The incidences the protagonist narrates prove that the world of children is characterized by fear, grief, disbelief, insecurities, fantasy, and innocence, while world of adults is characterized by knowledge, consciousness, and their dissimulation of always doing what is right. In his book, Gaiman compares and contrasts the childhood and …show more content…

He insinuates that despite the physical and conscious difference between adults and children, the inner soul is always the same. Through a conversation with Lettie, the narrator gets to the conclusion that adults are “all really children wrapped in adult bodies” (155). He assumes, that on the inside, adults are like children. They are still scared of many situations in life, and they not always know what they’re doing. He concludes that adults are not the perfect figures they pretend to be. All adult people perceive like they have developed a different perspective after maturity and they typically project security and confidence to approach life. However, the narrator implies that on the inside, adults can be as insecure as children. According to the narrator, the only thing that changes the way of thinking between children and adults is the level of consciousness and knowledge due to their years of

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The Hempstocks: Under The Surface Neil Gaiman’s novel “The Ocean At The End Of The Lane” accentuates that although the Hempstocks could use their powers for bad, self-beneficial things, they instead are good people and use their powers for little things that help others. Each of the Hempstocks; Lettie, Ms. Hempstock, Old Mrs. Hempstock, and Lettie Hempstock all have magical powers that are unheard of by the narrator. At first, the narrator didn’t pick up on them, but then he began to become suspicious. Typically, powers eventually start to twist good people into bad people who use their powers for their own benefit. However, the Hempstocks have remained with their powers, restraining the use of their powers for minor tasks like making cheese and helping others see something.

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