Ocean at The End of The Lane

Ocean at the End of the Lane – Chapters 12 - End

1) Describe the various temptations and tricks that are sent to lure the narrator out of the fairy ring.

2) Read the “Pool of Tears” poem that the narrator quotes. How does the content of poem connect to the narrator’s experience?

a.  'How doth the little crocodile        Improve his shining tail,       And pour the waters of the Nile        On every golden scale!<

b. 'How cheerfully he seems to grin, How neatly spread his claws, And welcome little fishes in With gently smiling jaws!'

3) On page 135, the narrator quotes the song “A Nightmare” from Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe. Look up the lyrics to this song. Can you find any elements of the song that could connect to the narrator’s memories and/or experiences?

4) How does the voice in the dark attempt to lure the narrator? How does he respond to the voice? What do you think is the source of the voice in the dark?

5) When the narrator looks at Lettie, what does her true form look like? How do the connotations of images used to describe her substance (silk, ice, candles) differ from the connotations of the images used to describe Ursula’s true form?

6) What do you think the narrator means when he says: “if I looked inward I would see only infinite mirrors staring into myself for eternity

7) Why does Lettie say we have to give up the knowledge that we have before we are born?

8) Why does the narrator think he might have to die?

9) On page 152, the narrator lists all the things that are his fault. How is what happened “in the cold bath” different from the other things in his list?

10) Why do the hunger birds want the narrator? Why can’t they take him from the Hempstocks? What do they begin to do as a result of not being given the boy?

11) Who do you think the voice that speaks to the hunger birds belongs to? Explain your answer.

12) What does the narrator realize about Lettie’s actions? What do the Hempstocks do with her injured body? What is symbolic about their actions

13) Where does Ginnie Hempstock tell the narrator’s mother that Lettie has gone? What does the narrator say he remembers about Lettie’s going away party? What explanation can you give for the narrator’s faint memory of an “alternate pattern of events” (168)

14) What does the narrator’s mother tell the children about Ursula Monkton? What does the narrator’s sister say she thought regarding the reason that Ursula left?

15) What do you think the narrator means when he responds to the old woman’s comment “I thought you’d probably fallen in,” by saying, “I sort of did”(172)

16) According to Ginnie Hempstock, why does the narrator feel compelled to return to the pond from time to time?

17) Explain the connotative and denotative meanings of Ginnie Hempstock’s observation that the narrator is “growing a new heart”(175).

18) At the end of the book, what comment does the narrator make to Mrs. Hempstock that seems to indicate that he has already forgotten everything he remembered while sitting by the pond?