Tom Flett

Tom Flett is the protagonist. He is 20 years old and works as a shanker, trawling for shrimp on the beach in his hometown of Longferry. Tom is introduced as a young man whose life is defined by repetition and constraint. His work is physically punishing, poorly rewarded, and leaves little room for self-expression. At the outset of the novel he accepts this life with a kind of resigned ambivalence: it is what he has inherited from his grandfather Pop, and although he recognizes its value in sustaining himself and his mother Lillian, it does not satisfy him. His stunted patterns of speech, most evident in the seafood shop exchanges, reinforce a sense of limitation, as though his inner life is muted and struggling for articulation.

Tom’s encounter with Edgar disrupts this pattern. Edgar represents a life oriented around passion, creativity, and the belief that art can...