Memory is something that revels in ambiguity—so if two people experience the same moment, they will both have two very different opinions of how things really went down. So for our purposes in The Ocean at the End of the Lane, when the man is telling us the story of all the incredible events that occurred during that fateful spring break, we have to keep in mind that it is all coming from his memory—and decades after the fact, to boot. And we also have to remember that the Hempstocks have a way of messing with memories.
In other words, who knows what actually happened…
Questions About Memory
- How do his memories change as the narration changes (during the story telling versus in the prologue and epilogue)?
- Why does the boy choose to keep the memory of his father trying to kill him?
- How has the memory (or non-memory) of these events shaped his life?