The Key Elements of "Ocean at the End of the Lane" by Neil Gaiman
Ocean at the End of the Lane was easily one of my favorite books that I've read so far this semester. The grim but gripping writing style flavored this book differently than most, who prefer to keep violence and gore tamely described. It was something I didn't enjoy in the moment, as I could be found often audibly yelling my disgust when reading some of the more gory passages, and yet I wouldn't dare turn my eyes away. I found that every gruesome detail made the experience seem all the more real.
The author, Neil Gaiman, spoke extensively in an interview on what creates genre. He describes genre through elements that he says the reader would feel cheated without. With Ocean at the End of the Lane as my window into the genre of contemporary urban fantasy, I might be able to gather some of it's key elements.
Part of what I noticed most about fantasy in general is that it doesn't always try to get you to escape reality, but help you understand it. Many of these stories, like Night Circus or Ocean at the End of the Lane, feature young children as they enter the world of adults. In case of The Hobbit, while it was an older man, still followed the journey of the inexperienced on their path to greater knowledge in a world they have never known.
Magic seems to be a tool in fantasy to aid the understanding of the inexperienced or the youth into the world of those who seem more capable. In Ocean, beings beyond our understanding have gained their wisdom and abilities with time and forms of magic that seems almost alien. They are beings with a deep connection to the universe that expands past any possible human scope of understanding. This left me feeling like there were always forces at work that were beyond my knowledge or control, and that that was simply a fact of life. As a human, I am a microorganism to the macrocosm of the world that I am within.
Other facts of life present in Ocean and fantasy in general are that beings will exist with motives that aren't necessarily opposite, and yet, certainly not aligned, with our own. Ursula, or the large spirit-like canvas creature, had claimed to have wanted to help humans by giving them what they desired: money. She was prepared to manipulate, torture, and even kill humans to accomplish her goals, and yet, she was acting truly to her nature. A lion that kills other animals, even other humans, is merely acting within their nature, and nothing remotely evil can be said about that. Ursula was not human, and so our ideas of malevolence that we apply to her won't fit. Applying Ursula to a binary of good and evil which is not only a human, but a western system of judgement doesn't work. The same might be said for people we don't understand in real life. No one is truly evil, but merely acting within their nature and their morals.
Outside of genre conventions, an aspect about Ocean that would've made it feel incomplete without is the aspect of the bridge between being an adult and a child. The main character experiences both worlds, noting every childlike pleasure that faded away as he aged. His boundaries become less and less respected. Provisions that his parents once made just for him ceased to be his, and instead became relics of a long-lost time, such as the small yellow washbasin just his size, a kitten, his room, and other considerations made for his feelings that quickly went. He rapidly lost love and lost trust for his parents, as multiple times he came far too close to death for comfort, and never spoke a word to his elders.
In a further example,
"There was still a monster in my house, and, in a fragment of time that had, perhaps, been snipped out of reality, my father had pushed me down into the water of the bath and tried, perhaps, to drown me. I had run for miles through the dark. I had seen my father kissing and touching the thing that called itself Ursula Monkton. The dread had not left my soul. But there was a kitten on my pillow, and it was purring in my face and vibrating gently with every purr, and, very soon, I slept." (Gaiman, 76)
A kitten, which arrived early in his childhood, became a symbol for comfort and safety. The kitten's steady presence in his youth died just as his world suddenly started to turn for the worse. However, when he finds a new friend, and a new family that showed him the love and comfort he deserved, a new kitten arises. In this excerpt, the memories and comforts of his youth create a moment of consolation from the nightmarish adult world. The boy learned who he could love, and who would love him when all others were gone. Often, and in real life as well, it's not the people you're given to love you, but the people you'll find along the way.
The author, Neil Gaiman, spoke extensively in an interview on what creates genre. He describes genre through elements that he says the reader would feel cheated without. With Ocean at the End of the Lane as my window into the genre of contemporary urban fantasy, I might be able to gather some of it's key elements.
Part of what I noticed most about fantasy in general is that it doesn't always try to get you to escape reality, but help you understand it. Many of these stories, like Night Circus or Ocean at the End of the Lane, feature young children as they enter the world of adults. In case of The Hobbit, while it was an older man, still followed the journey of the inexperienced on their path to greater knowledge in a world they have never known.
Magic seems to be a tool in fantasy to aid the understanding of the inexperienced or the youth into the world of those who seem more capable. In Ocean, beings beyond our understanding have gained their wisdom and abilities with time and forms of magic that seems almost alien. They are beings with a deep connection to the universe that expands past any possible human scope of understanding. This left me feeling like there were always forces at work that were beyond my knowledge or control, and that that was simply a fact of life. As a human, I am a microorganism to the macrocosm of the world that I am within.
Other facts of life present in Ocean and fantasy in general are that beings will exist with motives that aren't necessarily opposite, and yet, certainly not aligned, with our own. Ursula, or the large spirit-like canvas creature, had claimed to have wanted to help humans by giving them what they desired: money. She was prepared to manipulate, torture, and even kill humans to accomplish her goals, and yet, she was acting truly to her nature. A lion that kills other animals, even other humans, is merely acting within their nature, and nothing remotely evil can be said about that. Ursula was not human, and so our ideas of malevolence that we apply to her won't fit. Applying Ursula to a binary of good and evil which is not only a human, but a western system of judgement doesn't work. The same might be said for people we don't understand in real life. No one is truly evil, but merely acting within their nature and their morals.
Outside of genre conventions, an aspect about Ocean that would've made it feel incomplete without is the aspect of the bridge between being an adult and a child. The main character experiences both worlds, noting every childlike pleasure that faded away as he aged. His boundaries become less and less respected. Provisions that his parents once made just for him ceased to be his, and instead became relics of a long-lost time, such as the small yellow washbasin just his size, a kitten, his room, and other considerations made for his feelings that quickly went. He rapidly lost love and lost trust for his parents, as multiple times he came far too close to death for comfort, and never spoke a word to his elders.
In a further example,
"There was still a monster in my house, and, in a fragment of time that had, perhaps, been snipped out of reality, my father had pushed me down into the water of the bath and tried, perhaps, to drown me. I had run for miles through the dark. I had seen my father kissing and touching the thing that called itself Ursula Monkton. The dread had not left my soul. But there was a kitten on my pillow, and it was purring in my face and vibrating gently with every purr, and, very soon, I slept." (Gaiman, 76)
A kitten, which arrived early in his childhood, became a symbol for comfort and safety. The kitten's steady presence in his youth died just as his world suddenly started to turn for the worse. However, when he finds a new friend, and a new family that showed him the love and comfort he deserved, a new kitten arises. In this excerpt, the memories and comforts of his youth create a moment of consolation from the nightmarish adult world. The boy learned who he could love, and who would love him when all others were gone. Often, and in real life as well, it's not the people you're given to love you, but the people you'll find along the way.
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