Themes in The Shipping News
- The collapse of language, silence, inarticulacy is a very important concept throughout the novel.There is a collapse of language in the setting and context
- There are links between silence and identity for Quoyle and Agnis. Proulx draws the reader’s attention to the character’s silences. In the novel, silence = a negative sense of self and expression = a positive sense of who you are. - The self is constructed by language. Yet the novel also questions the capacity of language to encapsulate human experience - Quoyle develops a voice, a sense of self and belonging as the plot unfolds - Outsider/Alienation/Isolation: a move to integration. |
- Ghosts and being haunted by the past is tied to the notion of home. Look at the symbolism of the house and the symbolism of rebirth in the novel.
- Adaptability and navigation is required in the newer, more complex life in Newfoundland. It is inevitable and characters like Jack acknowledge it. - Home/Belonging/Family - Place and community as defining individuality - Community/Friendship - Ancestry/Familial ties/Roots/Heredity - Isolation vs. Invasion of modern civilisation - Romance/Love |
- Small town life
- Regional lifestyle/Fragility of regionalism - Identity and self-knowledge - Social and economic change - Self-esteem - Fate and tragedy - Redemption and survival - Grief - Resurrection/Rebirth - Work - Process of change in the individual and community |