Prompt: Discuss some element of craft that you appreciated in the first chapter of Neil Gaiman’s “The Ocean at the End of the Lane”.

I really appreciated the imagery and use of foreshadowing within the prologue and the first chapter. The novella opens with a description of a duck pond, signaling that this would be an important setting for our main character. The duck pond turns out to be incredibly important, as the closer the narrator gets, the more he remembers about his life. On page 8, the pond reaches the height of its importance (for now), when the narrator says, “I remembered that, and remembering that, I remembered everything”. Calling the duck pond an “ocean”, in my opinion, makes me think that Gaiman was alluding to the idea of an ocean of memories. The use of description within the prologue sets the mood, especially through Gaiman’s use of color. Our main character is wearing all black, described as being a “stolen uniform”. This allows the reader to feel the discomfort of the character and, while never specifically said, it is heavily implied that he is there for a funeral. Color is also used while the character returns to his childhood home, driving down a “black tarmac road” before entering a more natural, green area. I feel as though Gaiman uses many instances of imagery to foreshadow the character’s bleak childhood. On page 5, the character drives down a “narrow lane with brambles and briar roses on each side” which then opens up into “nothing but fields on each side of the road…a tangle of meadows”. I particularly enjoyed this section, as it feels as though we are driving with the character through the toughest points of his life until he reaches a point in time where he last had his childhood innocence. Gaiman also solidifies our character’s motivation for the rest of the chapter, which is curiosity. By telling us the character’s motivation, the reader can understand that while he may not have a goal in mind, he is a naturally curious individual. The first chapter, however, shows us that he had a particularly lonely and sad childhood, detailing how no one came to his seventh birthday party and the death of his kitten (I want to personally fight Gaiman now, but we’ll finish the book first). While incredibly sad, I found that the kitten’s death was a great use of symbolism for the loss of our character’s innocence. The reaction of all adults in the scene (his parents, the opal miner) drives the point home, as they have all lost their innocence, they don’t think that the character’s loss of innocence is a big deal and is therefore brushed aside. The last thing I’ll mention is the character’s voice. Gaiman writes chapter 1 with the narrator looking back on his life. Instead of having the character expressing sadness or bitterness, the reader can see that the narrator is pretty matter-of-fact about his childhood. Through his voice, we can see that the now-adult narrator has come to terms with his past, but that leaves the question as to why he has returned to the duck pond.