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The Shipping News Analysis

585 Words3 Pages

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 …show more content…

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

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(p.203) This quote connects to the theme of the book because it is explaining what it felt like after Grandmama passed away. It also describes how the family reacted. These themes of death, love, and family are present in this quote. After Grandmama’s death the family knew they would need to be there to love each other, but they felt themselves growing further apart, distanced between this now empty space in their hearts that held Grandmama.

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Quoyle is loathed by his father and teased by his brother so he is always put down for his horrific appearance. He is always repressed so this causes the reader to identify with his struggle and want him him to succeed. Quoyle only wants to get away from this abuse and become his own man. The use of that underdog mentality gets more true when the author speaks of Quoyle’s lineage.

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In the Shipping News, Proulx uses figurative language to reveal how Quoyle’s differences affect himself. The figurative language in the passage enlightens us to the fast that Quoyle, a very insecure person is unsure of himself and doesn’t fit in. Proulx says Quoyle “stumbled through his twenties and into his thirties learning to separate his feelings from his life, counting on nothing” which unveils a lack of trust in himself and that in many ways is shown through his father as he keeps trying to get Quoyle to succeed. Quoyle’s father is described as pushing Quoyle to be successful, Quoyle’s father as Proulx states, “Again and again the father had broken his clenched grip and thrown him into pools, brooks, lakes, and surf.”

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He questions his mother’s actions as soon as she gets home, he knows that this message involves him receiving the truth from his mother. Oddly enough, his mother explains to him that she treats him this way through her words: “Because, Ed – you remind me of him”, this refers back to his father who promised her to leave this place, yet she is still here and so is her son, who is also the only one still here. Yet, her love as a mother still exists to him except that this time, he can actually notice it, his mother ends the conversation when she says “it takes a lot of love to hate you like this.” During the night of Christmas, after most of the people gathered and celebrated, Ed goes to the cemetery to pay a visit to his late father, showing a connection and the existence of feelings, which in this case is love between the living and the

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Montag recognises his lack of emotions towards Mildred, demonstrating the dehumanization of society. Granger explains how society used to be, with meaningful lives and human emotions/relationships. Without these human characteristics, life is not valued and not seen as important. Because of this, the people spend their days doing whatever makes them think they are happy for that moment in time. No one thinks about others, or about love, or about true happiness.

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Further, situational irony is present through the reaction that Louise Mallard has after learning about her husband’s death. Upon first learning of her husband’s death she is very devastated and distraught. As soon as she is alone in the bathroom however, it is clear to the readers she is not as upset. In fact she is slightly relieved in that “she saw beyond that bitter moment a long procession of years to come that would belong to her absolutely. And she opened and spread her arms out to them in welcome” (235).

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