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The narrator’s bedroom symbolizes his idealized experience childhood before his family fell on hard times. In better times, the narrator’s parents went so far as to install a yellow sink in the bathroom that was the perfect size for a child, something that made the narrator feel loved, cared for, and at home. Being evicted from his bedroom when the family falls on hard times, then, represents the way in which the narrator was suddenly and unceremoniously thrust out of childhood and into the real, terrifying, and complicated world of adults. Notably, the narrator chooses not to return to his bedroom at the end of the novel, after Ursula vacates it. This rejection of his formerly beloved room represents a kind of coming of age: the narrator’s experiences with Lettie leave him wary of that idealized vision of childhood, and though not entirely at home, he’s far more comfortable in the adult world.
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The Narrator’s Bedroom Symbol Timeline in The Ocean at the End of the Lane
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Narrator’s Bedroom appears in The Ocean at the End of the Lane. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 2
...He reads more than anything else. One afternoon, the narrator’s parents call him into their bedroom to say that they’re no longer doing well financially. They say that everyone will make...
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The narrator’s sister’s bedroom isn’t awful; it’s big and has a window conveniently situated so the narrator can climb...
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Chapter 6
...means that they have a new housekeeper, Ursula. Ursula will stay in the narrator’s old bedroom and look after the narrator and his sister. The narrator hopes Ursula is nice; the...
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Chapter 10
...promises the narrator that Ursula won’t put him in the attic. Lettie pushes open the bedroom door. Ursula lies naked on the bed, but the room is far more interesting to...
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Chapter 15
...but he feels somewhat guilty for irrationally disliking Ursula. Though his mother offers him his bedroom back, the narrator refuses and stays in his sister’s bedroom until the family moves to...
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