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Chapter 39
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Past the Shallows, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Brotherhood, Loyalty, and Hardship
Addiction and Abuse
Tragedy and Blame
Father Figures and Responsibility
The Duality of Nature
Summary
Analysis
Miles suddenly feels water spew from his mouth as he is lifted out of the ocean. He cannot open his eyes because he feels that the world is “too far out of reach.” Miles wakes up in a hospital bed, feeling incredibly thirsty and twitching as spasms of cold and pain ripple throughout his hypothermic body. He sees Joe looking down at him and tries to make sense of his brother apologizing and telling him that “he looked peaceful,” and that “they found him on one of the reefs out near Acton.”
The reader is able to understand Joe before Miles does and infer that Harry drowned in the ocean and was found on a reef. Joe’s apology suggests that he does not blame Miles for Harry’s death, although Miles will likely blame himself for being unable to save their little brother.
Themes
In his delirium, Miles suddenly understands that Joe is talking about Harry—that his little brother drowned in the water before he could be saved with Miles. Thrown into shock, Miles begins screaming uncontrollably and feels as though he is having an out-of-body experience where he can see and hear a boy lying on the bed, who cannot be him. The sound of his own screams becomes gradually fainter as he loses consciousness and falls into a warm sleep.
Miles’s intense reaction to the news of Harry’s death shows how important a role his little brother played in his life. The magnitude of this tragedy disrupts Miles down to the core of his being, to the point that he cannot even begin to blame himself because he loses touch with his own body and sense of reality.
Themes
Miles has another dream that is infused with his own memories, visualizing the night of the car accident that killed Mum just as he did when he fell asleep in Dad’s truck. He again sees Harry in the seat next to him and the bags of clothes around him as he feels himself drifting off to sleep.
This is another iteration of the dream Miles had in Chapter 32 when he fell asleep in the passenger seat of Dad’s car. The repetition of this memory implies that it holds deep significance for Miles which his subconscious is grasping to interpret.
Themes
The memory takes a diversion from his prior dream as a man gets into the car and strokes Harry’s cheek. Miles realizes that the man is Uncle Nick, whom Mum refers to as “my darling.” He then goes through the same experience of falling asleep before he can see the city lights, feeling something tighten around his neck and chest, and feeling crushed under the weight of the bags. Everything becomes “quiet and black” until he hears Harry cry.
In light of Dad’s harrowing confession about Mum and Uncle Nick’s illicit relationship and his involvement in their deaths, Miles’s memories of the accident finally come into focus. He realizes what the reader likely picked up on several chapters before but that he was too preoccupied to fully comprehend—that Nick was in the car with them during the crash. Nick’s kindness toward Miles, even though Miles was not his own son, also shows how important loving father figures can be even in the absence of a biological relationship.
Themes
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Miles awakens from his nightmare to see Joe asleep on the chair next to his hospital bed. Joe asks if he needs anything, but all Miles can say is “you came back.” Joe tells him that he had been unable to leave because the wind was too strong and prevented his boat from getting through the strait.
The violent storm was ultimately what claimed Harry’s life and took him away from his brothers, yet those same rough waters were also what caused Joe to turn back and be reunited with Miles when his younger brother needed him the most. Again, the narrative underscores the inherent duality of the natural world.
Themes
Still reeling from his disturbing, memory-infused dream, Miles tells Joe that Uncle Nick was in the car on the night of the crash and that Dad was at the scene of the accident. He remembers that their father took Nick away and left him, Mum, and Harry there. Miles called out for Mum, but she never answered, and Miles wrapped Harry with a blanket and tried to stay awake amidst the wreckage.
Miles verbally confirms what the reader has already inferred and shares this revelation with his older brother. Joe’s own absence from the car on the night of the accident remains a mystery. That Miles cares for Harry even in the immediate aftermath of the crash shows how their brotherly bond turns into a somewhat parental one as soon as their mother is gone.
Themes
