The Shipping News Analysis

Chapters 35-39 of The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx, bring the themes of family roots and change, which have been slowly building, to a satisfying point. The two themes correlate - when Quoyle faces his family roots, he is able to let go of the past and build a future for himself, changing his outlook on life and his immediate family situation. Quoyle going to visit his cousin Nolan and remarking on his seemingly sane mind marks him making peace with his family roots and his past in general. He brings Nolan a present, a framed photograph of a poodle, and offers to inquire about a nursing home in Killick-Claw for him. Quoyle is originally disgusted by his ancestry of pirates and an old madman, but his kindness toward Nolan in chapter 36

Wavey acts as a mother to Bunny and Sunshine, specifically Bunny. She makes the decision that Bunny must know the truth about death, rather than be spared with lies that death is simply an unending sleep, saying to Quoyle, “There is grief and loss in life. They need to understand that. They seem to think that death is just sleep” (Proulx 331). Her matter-of-fact statement “There is grief and loss in life” could also be intended for Quoyle, who himself is still holding onto Petal Bear’s death at this point. This statement also speaks of change, as death and loss bring major change to the lives of those left behind. Wavey is the person who explains the difficult concept of death to Bunny, as a motherly figure. She does Bunny and Sunshine’s clothing shopping, and takes “enormous pleasure” (Proulx 295) in the task, contributing to a family unit including her, Quoyle, Bunny, Sunshine and Herry. Herry calls Quoyle Dad during a picnic of the unofficial family unit. These events slowly solidify the unofficial family unit, causing it to become official at the end of the novel, when Quoyle says, “I do” (Proulx 336), a change in Quoyle’s life, proving that “love sometimes occurs without pain or misery” (Proulx