Point of View

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told from the point of view of an unnamed narrator who is a middle-aged man at the beginning, and a child of seven in the events the man remembers. The narrator defines himself early on as an artist who is fairly successful, divorced, and with grown children. He does not say much more about himself or his situation. The reader learns about him more through his childhood self than his adult self. As a child, the narrator is just at the point where he is learning to be afraid of things that he used to not fear. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is the narrator’s coming-of-age story. Though it uses dreamlike imagery, it follows a path of terror, courage, action, failure, and renewed action that every child follows as they make their...