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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
After Miles is released from the hospital, he stays with Joe on his boat. Unsure of what to do or where to go, they moor Joe’s boat close to Granddad’s now-empty house at Lady Bay and spend time on the veranda. Miles enjoys the feeling of the boat that Joe has spent years building since he first started his carpentry apprenticeship.
In the wake of Harry’s death, Joe gives up on his notion of sailing away alone and instead commits to staying with Miles. His willingness to do so reflects that Joe no longer feels the need to run from his responsibilities as an older brother and stand-in father figure.
Themes
Joe sits at boat’s kitchenette table, charting their path away from Bruny Island. Miles tells Joe that he is coming with him to Dad’s house and feels sick on the van ride there. Harry’s funeral is that Friday and he will be buried in the same cemetery as Mum and Granddad. Harry dreads seeing Aunty Jean and other relatives there, knowing that they will cry and offer up empty condolences.
Having lost Mum, Uncle Nick, and Granddad prior to Harry’s death, Miles is cynical at the idea of attending a funeral for Harry. He feels alienated by his close proximity to the tragedy, having desperately tried to save Harry from drowning before he ultimately died.
Themes
As they pull up to Dad’s house, Miles wonders what happened to Dad. Joe answers that he does not know, but that he hopes their father is dead. They enter the house and Miles feels that it has been a long time since anyone was there. He takes the photo of Mum from the day at Cloudy Bay when Uncle Nick first took him surfing. Miles knows now that he was right to feel suspicious on that day the photo was taken, when he saw Nick hug Mum, and Mum laugh and push him away. Miles asks Joe if he looks like Mum and his brother replies that he does.
Joe does not hesitate to assign blame to Dad. Their father seems to have fled the house in shame, though it is unclear whether he feels guilty over causing Harry’s death or is just afraid that he will be held responsible. Having thrown Harry overboard to his death, Dad committed the ultimate act of violence and irreparably fragmented the Curren family. His avoidance of facing Miles and Joe shows that Dad has not changed his ways—he is still the same cruel, negligent father he has been for a long time.
Themes
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Miles enters the bedroom he shared with Harry and finds that it is exactly how they left it. He collapses on Harry’s bed and tells Joe that he does not want to go to the funeral. Joe encourages him to go anyway, telling him that George Fuller, Stuart, and Harry’s classmates will be there. Miles tells Joe that he is staying here with Harry. He feels that Joe cannot understand that Harry might come back the way Mum did sometimes when he and Harry could not sleep.
Again, Miles feels utterly alienated in his grief over Harry, as he was the last one to be with his little brother before he drowned. Although George and Stuart were close with Harry, Miles is convinced that they (nor Joe) cannot fully understand the trauma he is experiencing.
Themes
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Lost in a moment of grief, Miles says that he did not mean to fall asleep. Joe puts his arm tightly around Miles and tries to distract him by telling him about all the tropical islands and big cities they will travel to, now that they are free to roam. Miles knows that Joe will take him along on the boat everywhere he goes from now on. He leans against Joe’s shoulder and allows himself to cry.
Joe seems to regret his previous decision to leave Bruny Island. It is possible that he blames himself, as well as Dad, for Harry’s death, since Miles and Harry may have left their father’s house to stay with Joe if he had remained in town. Joe is now fully committed to taking responsibility for Miles, delivering an unspoken promise to his younger brother that he will not abandon him again and also demonstrating how blame, when handled maturely, can also be a way to work toward healing.
Themes
