OSLO
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
English 2
THE SHIPPING NEWS
E.
Annie Proulx
How Quoyle develops through
the book,
with emphasis on his search
for identity
OSLO
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
THE SHIPPING NEWS
E.
Annie Proulx
How Quoyle develops through
the book,
with emphasis on his search
for identity
The Shipping News reflects Quoyle’s search for identity, and his trying to find himself. I will therefore, in the following, try to describe how Quoyle develops through the book, and how his search for his roots helps him to become a whole.
Quoyle "A flemish flake is a spiral coil of one layer only. It is made on deck, so that it may be walked on if necessary". This is the opening line of the book The Shipping News, and when we get to know that the main character is named Quoyle, you can not help wondering if there is a connection between the type of rope and the man himself.
When we first get to know Quoyle he is a very dismal person, who does not have much confidence in him self, and does not think he can achieve much as a person. Through his childhood he has been told, by both his father and brother, that he is less of a person and that nothing good will ever come from him. In many ways he seems to have been psychologically abused by the pair of them. Quoyle grew up believing that he is inferior to most men, and this has given him low self-esteem. You can surely compare the way people have treated him, and what his name is said to mean – it may be walked on if necessary.
Quoyle does not have many friends, and leads a lonely and isolated life in, Mockingburg, New York. Quoyle is described by the author as a man who "abstracted his life from the times" (p. 11). He has not got much education, and works for a small family newspaper writing columns. He is not successful as a writer or in his social life, but it does not seem to bother him much. Nevertheless Quoyle has some good qualities; he is said to be a conscientious and timid person.
Quoyle falls in love, at least he thinks he does, and ends up in a disastrous marriage with a woman called Petal. Petal does not care much about Quoyle, and treats him badly in every way possible. She commits adultery, not only once but regularly, and degrades him whenever she feels like it. Petal also leaves Quoyle with the full responsibility of their two children, and does not want to have anything to do with them. She wants to divorce Quoyle but he still thinks that they can work out their differences. Quoyle does not seem to know what love is, and in many ways he equates misery with love. The author’s description, "What he had was what he pretended" (p. 14), is a good way of describing Quoyle’s marriage. He lives in a dream about what the marriage could have been like.
Petal dies in a car accident when she tries to run away with one of her many lovers. After her death Quoyle was devastated. He could not admit to him self, nor to the girls, the truth about Petal being gone forever. "For he had protected them from the funeral, had never said the word. Death" (p. 46). By repressing the fact of Petal’s death Quoyle found it easier to go on living.
Quoyle’s life takes a new turn when he is faced with his parent’s suicide, and his wife’s dramatical death. He is talked into leaving New York by his aunt Agnis. "It makes sense, she said, for you to start a new life in a fresh place" (p. 29). The four of them move to Newfoundland, which is the place where Quoyle’s family originally came from. Quoyle’s move to Killick-Claw brings about a major change in his life, and from this point and through out the book he develops into a complete person.
For the first time in his life Quoyle starts to do things the right way, when it comes to both his professional and social life. Through the years he has developed into becoming a good writer. When he first started he was a terrible one, but in Killick-Claw he gets recognition for his work. "Thirty-six years old and this was the first time anybody ever said he’d done it right" (p. 144). Quoyle’s success in his professional life gives him more confidence when it comes to his social life. After a while Quoyle starts to make friends, and they respect him for the man he is. He finds that he is accepted among the local people, and this gives him self-confidence. Being secure is important for Quoyle, and his friends give him the security he has been searching for, ever since he was a child.
Quoyle is now faced with challenges he finds out that he can manage. He rises to the occasion when his children need him the most, and he is always there for them. He recognises him self in his daughters, and the problems they are faced with at school. Quoyle does everything possible to help them. He feels deeply for them because he has gone through exactly the same as they experiencing.
Through his work as a reporter in The Gammy Bird, which is said to look life in its shifty, bloodshot eye (p. 63), he learns to accept that death is a part of life. Writing about accidents is therapy for Quoyle, it gets him through the pain he is suffering from because of his wife’s death.
Through their friendship Quoyle grows to love Wavey, who is a single mother of one and a widower. She is everything Petal was not, and gives Quoyle the love and affection he deserves. She treats him like an equal, and their relationship turns into a genuine and profound one. Through her love Quoyle grows, and finally finds out what love is all about. "All he felt with Wavey was comfort and a modest joy" (p.304). This is something he has never experienced in a relationship before, and it makes him realise what he had with Petal was nothing but an illusion.
Quoyle is no longer inferior to other people. He is a good journalist, and is much appreciated for his work. He is also a very good father to his two daughters, and functions well in a grownup relationship with Wavey. He has got friends who support him, and stand by him when he needs them to. Through the book Quoyle has developed into a strong man with a good and reflected personality.