I read Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane last year for Literature & Rhetoric II. However, to be honest, I definitely tired of reading Neil Gaiman works once we got to this novel. We had already read The Graveyard Book, a volume of The Sandman comics, and The Wolves in the Walls. It was one Gaiman work too many and, last year, I did not really enjoy it too much. I really loved The Sandman collection that we read and felt like I liked him more in that medium. I also thought that The Graveyard Book had a much more interesting story and characters. However, when I read it this year, I was able to think of it more withdrawn from his other works, so it could really stand on its own. And, when I did that I truly enjoyed it much more.
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This creates a sense of seeing one’s self in this character’s shoes. This reminded me of one of my favorite films of all-time: Fight Club. Edward Norton’s character, the narrator of film, has no name and acts as an everyman, which makes the viewer project themselves onto the character. The tone of The Ocean at the End of the Lane is more serious than some of the other works we have read this semester and definitely more serious than the other Neil Gaiman works that I read. I also very much related to theme of loneliness which Gaiman used through this work. The themes of the loneliness of isolation and the somber tone was evident in the first line the narrator says in reflection on his childhood, saying that he “was not happy as a child, although from time to time I was content” (13). I like how this work compares to Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Both are coming-of-age stories, but, most importantly, both are uniquely their author’s work. I think that one could easily compare the humor and cartoons in Alexie’s novel to the fantasy element in Gaiman’s novel as different, unique takes on their deeply personal stories. Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane was a gloomier, realistic portrayal of a coming of age story, but still retains the fantasy that is uniquely his
This creates a sense of seeing one’s self in this character’s shoes. This reminded me of one of my favorite films of all-time: Fight Club. Edward Norton’s character, the narrator of film, has no name and acts as an everyman, which makes the viewer project themselves onto the character. The tone of The Ocean at the End of the Lane is more serious than some of the other works we have read this semester and definitely more serious than the other Neil Gaiman works that I read. I also very much related to theme of loneliness which Gaiman used through this work. The themes of the loneliness of isolation and the somber tone was evident in the first line the narrator says in reflection on his childhood, saying that he “was not happy as a child, although from time to time I was content” (13). I like how this work compares to Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Both are coming-of-age stories, but, most importantly, both are uniquely their author’s work. I think that one could easily compare the humor and cartoons in Alexie’s novel to the fantasy element in Gaiman’s novel as different, unique takes on their deeply personal stories. Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane was a gloomier, realistic portrayal of a coming of age story, but still retains the fantasy that is uniquely his