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Chapter 13
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Blueback, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Nature, Belonging, and Conservation
Family and Love
Greed and Environmental Destruction
The Ocean and Life’s Mysteries
Time, Change, and Continuity
Summary
Analysis
When Abel and Stella arrive at Longboat Bay, they have a party with Abel’s mother on the veranda to celebrate the bay’s new status as a sanctuary. Dora recounts different “wonders of the ocean” she’s seen. Later, as they go inside to sleep, Dora falls and breaks her hip. She sobs, and Abel realizes his mother is too old to live here by herself. He understands that she’s crying because she doesn’t want to leave Longboat Bay. The pain of potentially being separated from the bay is worse than the pain of her injury.
Dora’s injury exemplifies how some changes brought by time—in this case, aging—can lead to pain, suffering, and sadness. Dora loves Longboat Bay as her home, a member of her family, and a connection to her deceased husband. The bay gives her life, strength, and companionship. Her intimate relationship with the bay explains why the prospect of having to live elsewhere is the ultimate wound.
Themes
While his mother is in the hospital, Abel fixes up the house, which has become run-down in his absence. One day, he stands in front of the peppermint tree and feels close to his father’s memory. He hugs the tree just as he did when he was younger.
By making repairs to his home, Abel cares for Longboat Bay, which he loves and considers an essential part of his life and family. Also, for the second time, Abel symbolically hugs his father by embracing the peppermint tree. The tree not only honors Abel’s father’s memory as a shrine but also represents Abel’s father himself.
Themes
Later that day, as the sun sets, Abel stands on the jetty. He sees a large blue shadow in the water and whale bones on the beach. He feels as though the bay is “calling him.” Stella joins Abel outside and tells him they’re going to stay in Longboat Bay. He laughs in surprise, but she knows Abel wants to be home, not homesick. She says she’s already informed the Foundation they work for that they quit.
In this climactic emotional moment, Abel feels drawn to Longboat Bay in a profound way, almost as if the land and sea are sending him a message to return home. The blue shadow in the water—likely Blueback—seems to call to Abel to stay. Additionally, the whale bones remind Abel that he’s connected to all his family members who lived in Longboat Bay before him. Altogether, these promptings from the bay compel Abel to come back home. Stella decisively helps Abel make this choice. She understands what his home means to him, and she respects his relationship with Longboat Bay.
Themes
Abel’s mother returns home from the hospital. Government officials come to formally mark the boundaries of the marine reserve in Longboat Bay. When Dora recovers more of her strength, she visits the peppermint tree. Meanwhile, Abel and Stella live and work happily at home. Soon, their daughter is born. They name her Dora after Abel’s mother.
As Longboat Bay becomes a protected marine sanctuary, life seems to renew itself. The bay is safe, Dora heals, and Abel and Stella bring new life into the world. By naming their daughter Dora, Abel and Stella make the cyclical nature of life more tangible—even after the elder Dora Jackson is gone, she’ll live on through her granddaughter and namesake. Meanwhile, Abel’s loving family is together and happy in Longboat Bay once more. Dora reunites with Abel’s father by spending time with the peppermint tree, which symbolizes her husband’s lasting presence in Longboat Bay even after death.
Themes
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