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Chapter 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Ocean at the End of the Lane, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Childhood vs. Adulthood
Memory, Perception, and Reality
Knowledge and Identity
Fear, Bravery, and Friendship
Summary
Analysis
That night, the narrator inspects the new hole in his foot. It doesn’t hurt, but when he pokes it, it seems like something inside retreats. When the narrator’s sister asks questions, he goes to the bathroom. In retrospect, the narrator isn’t sure why he didn’t call an adult—but as a kid, he only went to adults as a last resort. He pulls out tweezers and sees that something alive blocks the hole and seems disturbed by the light. The narrator covers the hole and after a minute, pokes in the tweezers and catches a worm. He tries to pull the worm out. It’s pink and gray, and when about an inch of it is out, it becomes rigid. The narrator isn’t afraid. He remembers that the neighbor’s cat had worms, so this seems normal.
To a degree, the narrator doesn’t believe that adults take him seriously. It’s hard to say whether this is true or not—thus far, his parents seem dismissive and disinterested, but they don’t ignore their children completely. However, the narrator may have good reason not to tell his parents about this worm, which is likely supernatural given that it burrowed into the narrator’s foot when they were in Lettie’s strange universe. The narrator may feel that adults are set in thinking that there is no magic in the world and would therefore have a hard time believing him that he has a worm that behaves like this in his foot.
Themes
The narrator winds the worm around the tweezers, but it refuses to come out further. He turns on the hot water, and when it’s warm enough, he puts his foot under. The heat doesn’t bother him, but the worm goes slack. The narrator is able to pull it out until he’s almost at the very end. A quick tug causes the worm to snap with a tiny bit left in his foot. Once out of his body, the worm writhes. The narrator doesn’t usually kill animals, but since he’s sure the worm is dangerous, he washes it down the drain with scalding water and puts the plug in the drain. He puts a bandage on his foot and stares at himself in the mirror. The narrator wonders who, exactly, he is and what “me” means.
The narrator seems to understand instinctively that this worm is somehow ominous and threatening. This is likely due to what he experienced with Lettie earlier; he’s had a taste of what bad supernatural beings are like and is therefore better able to identify them when they appear in his day-to-day life. This shows that the narrator is learning how to understand his world. On the other hand, self-knowledge is still eludes him at this point—a testament to the complex process of getting to know oneself and one’s place in the wider world.
Themes
