Relationships

Past the Shallows presents relationships as paramount to the human condition but tempers this with the common human experience that often others will not be there, physically or metaphorically, when they are needed.

As the primary relationship of parent and child has dissipated in this text, the relationship between siblings and strangers prevails as the only remaining positive link between the characters. An affair and an accident severs the boys from the love of their mother and uncle and they are left with a now unloving father, feeling all alone. The father’s anger results in abusive behaviour and leaves the three boys, Joe, Harry and Miles, to rely on each other for support.

The brothers strive to support each other but are limited in their capacity to fulfil each other’s needs. Joe is limited in his capacity to help the younger siblings, reminding them he is only nineteen and a victim of his father’s abuse himself which resulted in a broken arm. Since his father’s drunken rage turned physical, Joe has distanced himself from the family. Joe offers to his brothers what he can but typical to Parett’s commentary on relationships, the characters are often left wanting more than others can provide. Miles likewise seeks more from Joe than he can offer, hoping he will take Miles on his boat and leave, and has abandoned hope that his father will provide physical or emotional support. Harry aims to help Miles when he can and seeks a father figure in George. Even George’s absence at times represents the missing values in the boys’ lives.

The text shows that the breakdown of relationships common to the human condition are predominately harmful and the effects are far-reaching. It highlights that peripheral relationships are vital by disclosing that those around the struggling family, who were in a position to intervene, failed.

Relationship Quotes

Harry leaned his head back against the chair and thought that if Miles got lost, if Miles never came home, Harry’s insides would go wrong and they might never come right again. If Miles got lost. Chapter 31

And he knew that Joe was going to take him with him, now. Wherever he went. He leaned his head down against his brother’s shoulder. And he let himself cry. Chapter 41

Change

Changes in tide and weather experienced by the characters of Past the Shallows preempt the changes that unfold for the characters themselves. Caught in changing times within a shifting town, the characters’ abilities to adapt to changes shape who they become. A once thriving industry, those dependent on fishing are struggling and this forces them to take extra risks and to go outside the law to make ends meet. Some, like Mr Roberts, have adapted and made money, grown their fleet and updated their organisation; those who have not, like the Curren boat, struggle and are forced into difficult situations and choices. The strain of the work has taken its toll on the men of the town with those who have not adapted fast enough having lost their boats and working at the modern cannery.

Circumstantial changes are thrust upon the characters. The death of the mother in the Curren family changes everything. The father is now left to move on alone and support the family, however, he seems incapable of doing so or of coming to terms with the past. He is stuck at the night of the accident. He is enraged by the betrayal of his wife and expels that fury on his children. Concealing a secret that he was at the scene of the accident, he starts a downward spiral of destruction taking him and his children with him.

Joe changes positively with the support of Grandad and becomes a carpenter, completing an apprenticeship and building a boat. The boat will one day take him and Miles away from their past. The message revealed, that support and education is key to healthy change, is regrettably only evident for Joe.

The end of a childhood is a change that is inevitable but one that comes prematurely for some of the characters. Miles is conscripted to work on the family boat instead of enjoying the school holidays. An accident that sees a worker injured secures Miles an unwanted ongoing position on the boat. It is not until after the devastation caused by his father has passed that he is able to surf with a childhood friend and enjoy the simple teen life for a brief moment.

The novel is presented in a way that places it in a state of change which Harry notices intuitively. The story surrounding the Curren family, much like the abandoned houses he sees with George, is a part of a larger changing world. Generations and ages will come and go and the events of this story are but a fleeting section of time.

Change Quotes

And if you didn’t know better, you’d think that no one lived here anymore. That all these places were abandoned. But people were in there somewhere, hidden and burrowed in. They were there. Chapter 7

Out past the shallows, past the sandy-bottomed bays, comes the dark water—black and cold and roaring. Rolling out an invisible path, a new line for them to follow.
To somewhere warm.
To somewhere new. Chapter 43

Responsibility

Perhaps the most prominent display of anomalies, paradoxes or inconsistencies comes from the lack of adults able to take responsibility in the text. There is a parade of adults who seem to abdicate their responsibility to the next generation. Primary is the boys’ father who, given the responsibility of raising them after their mother has passed, is fixated on his own hurt and interests. He is unresponsive to the needs and moods of his children. Instead he simply employs Miles to help on the boat disregarding his need for school or leisure. He ignores Harry’s needs and even in the face of Jeff’s violence fails to step in as a protector. When the final scenes unfold and Miles attempts to rescue Harry, Mr Curren restrains Miles to vent his hurt rather than act out of concern for Harry. It is not only the father who fails to take responsibility for the younger children. Mr Roberts, Stuart’s mother and Aunty Jean are each complicit in neglecting the trio of boys who needed support.

Responsibility Quotes

First day of school holidays. First day he must man the boat alone while the men go down. Old enough now, he must take his place. Just like his brother before him, he must fill the gap Uncle Nick left. (Miles) Chapter 2

Then they heard Dad yelling from inside. Yelling at them, at everyone. Yelling at no one. And Miles could hear the words. They came through the brown walls, through the air, and cracked open the night: ‘I never wanted you.’ Chapter 24

Nature

The role of nature in Past the Shallows gives a dramatic backdrop to the story as well as holds a mirror to the characters’ thoughts, feelings and behaviours. The ocean acts in some ways as a storyteller, reflecting lives and cultures in the Tasmanian community. Nature is a double-edged sword, providing beauty, substance and a livelihood for community as well as presenting an imposing threat to the residents.

It is Harry who finds the beauty in nature above all. Although he is aware of the perils of nature, spooked by water after the stories of his uncle’s disappearance, he still takes time to enjoy natural beauty. Harry is struck by the appearance of a cormorant. Out of time and place, the bird in some ways will represent him. He seeks treasures on the beach and stores them at home. He watches the southern lights and finds comfort in them during troubled times. He is enamoured with a puppy and lets it lead him to George, a source of nurturing and safety. Joe and Miles find their own source of beauty in nature. When they ride the waves and integrate with them they find escape and cleansing.

Nature in return is unpredictable. On one hand it can provide the abalone and salmon that will help the struggling family and yet, with a single motion, it can throw a rogue wave and a shark into the boat causing loss and injury. Nature will not relent its treasures easily for the divers as they risk their lives to battle seas and currents in the precarious profession. Parrett suggests that man’s place in nature is best when surrendered to its power, like a surfer on a wave or a boy sitting in an orchard. Resisting nature is presented as futile. Furthermore, nature is presented as a blueprint by which humans will act. A tempestuous sea is a dangerous temper. A baby shark slaughtered unnecessarily when it could have survived reflecting the struggle of childhood.

Nature Quotes

Water that was always there. Always everywhere. The sound and the smell and the cold waves making Harry different. And it wasn’t just because he was the youngest. He knew the way he felt about the ocean would never leave him now. It would be there always, right inside him. Chapter 1

Harry picked up an abalone shell, the edges loose and dusty in his hands. And every cell in his body stopped. Felt it. This place. Felt the people who had been here before, breathing and standing live where he stood. People who were dead now. Long gone. And Harry understood it, right down in his guts, that time ran on forever and that one day he would die. Chapter 1

It was fully formed, more than half a yard long, maybe only days away from being born. It would have survived if Jeff had just let it go, let it slide off the back of the boat. It had made it this far, battling its siblings, killing and feeding off them. Waiting. It would have been born strong, ready to hunt, ready to fight. (The shark’s babies) Chapter 9

He lived for this, for these moments when everything stops except your heart beating and time bends and ripples—moves past your eyes frame by frame and you feel beyond time and before time and no one can touch you. (Miles, in the surf) Chapter 22

But ultimately it wasn’t up to you. This ocean could hold you down for as long as it liked, and Miles knew it. Chapter 37