The Young Man and the Sea

“My dad’s family, the Beamans, they was swampers. That’s local talk for white trash, I guess. […]

There are rich Spinneys and poor Spinneys and regular Spinneys, but there ain’t no swamp Spinneys, and my mom’s family never let my dad forget it, believe you me. Mom never liked that, and stood up for my dad. She always said we all came from the same place, if you go back far enough, and what did it matter what named they put on the headstones?

The name on her headstone is Mary Roselyn Spinney Beaman, so you might say she got to have it both ways.”

This quote develops the dynamic between Spinney Cove’s socioeconomic classes. The Spinneys’ (Mary Rose’s family’s) classism toward the Beamans (Skiff Sr.’s family) is reflected in Tyler Croft’s bullying of Skiff, whom he views as a low-class “swamper.” However, Mary Rose’s defense of her husband and loyalty to both of her families reinforce The Centrality of Family.

“They say a thing that’s broke can always be fixed, if you work at it. And that’s what I intend to do, no matter what.”

This quote about the sunken Mary Rose also applies to Skiff and Skiff Sr.’s grief over the deceased Mary Rose. Like the boat, the family can be fixed, no matter how “broken” they appear to be.

“[…] I flop down in the ratty old chair by the ratty old couch and stare at the screen. Actually it’s a show I like, about cops and lawyers solving crimes and stuff, where everything gets settled in the end. Wouldn’t that be great, if everything really fixed itself that easy? Like if because I raised the boat my dad would quit drinking and turn over a new leaf or something.

It don’t work that way in the real world. Still, even with the beer and all, it’s sort of cool, the two of us watching the same show and probably thinking the same things about it.”

This quote reinforces The Centrality of Family: Even in Skiff Sr.’s darkest moments, Skiff sticks by him and enjoys their little time together. This quote also foreshadows Skiff Sr. “turning over a new leaf,” due to Skiff going missing.

“My dad is standing there, pale as milk.

‘I’ll be darned,’ he says, rubbing his eyes. ‘You did it.’

But he doesn’t sound happy. And he looks like he’s seen a ghost.”

When Skiff Sr. sees Skiff successfully raised the Mary Rose, he is struck by disbelief. The equation of the boat to a ghost reinforces it as a mirror of the deceased Mary Rose, leaving Skiff Sr. in pain.

“All along I been concentrating on Rose, getting her fixed. I been thinking so hard on that, I forgot she ain’t the only boat in the world. There’s the skiff my dad built me for my ninth birthday. I been up and down the creek in it a million times, and all over the harbor, too. It’s a good little boat, and the outboard runs most of the time. No reason the skiff can’t be put to work earning money.”

This quote develops the symbolism of the Beamans’ two boats. Skiff has neglected his skiff in favor of the Mary Rose, which mirrors his fixation on his mother’s death—to the point of sometimes forgetting his and his father’s abilities and needs. Thus, the boat that Skiff Sr. built, and Skiff Sr. himself, prove key to Skiff’s successful catch of a bluefin tuna.

“It gets my goat when rich people steal from me. And that’s what cutting traps is, plain and simple: stealing. Sticks in my craw like a rusty hook, knowing how little it means to a rich creep like Tyler Croft, that he can ruin my life anytime he feels like it.”

Like Important Quote #2, this quote develops local dynamics between socioeconomic classes. Tyler destroys Skiff’s lobster traps for fun, because he doesn’t realize the family’s financial strain.

“There’s a time just before you wake up when your brain thinks all the bad things that have happened only happened in your sleep. […]

What a crock. When I wake up, all the bad stuff is still there. The Mary Rose still don’t have an engine, and my traps are still cut.

Oh yeah, and my dad is passed out on the TV couch, which makes it perfect. I can smell the beer even before I get downstairs.”

The novel emphasizes The Necessity of Resilience as one of its themes, but resilience does not entail an absence of challenges. Rather, resilience means trying despite challenges. Even though Skiff wishes his problems would disappear, he keeps working to create solutions.

“You ever seen where someone will take a magnifying glass and try to focus the sun on a fly until it burns? Just because they want to hurt something and they go nothing better to do?

Feels like Tyler is the sun and I’m the fly.”

The equation of the sun to Tyler and a fly to Skiff illustrate the sadistic nature of Tyler’s bullying. For no discernable reason other than classism, Tyler taunts Skiff’s swamper lineage and cuts his lobster traps.

“[…] Bluefin can hit fifty miles an hour. It can leap fifteen feet into the air. It will swim two thousand miles to feed on a particular school of fish, at a particular time of year. When the good Lord created fish, He reached perfection with the bluefin tuna! This is the fish of all fishes. The king of fish! The queen of the Seven Seas!”

This quote elaborates on the bluefin tuna’s size and strength, its magnificence reflecting Skiff’s dream of grandeur. The fish is impressive and thus grants its catcher the same status. This framing also foreshadows Skiff’s empathy for his tuna, as it proves both a danger and savior.

“A bluefin tuna is going to change my life. Maybe change my dad’s life, too. Wait will he hears that new motor purring in Rose—he’ll want to get back fishing and acting like normal again.”

This quote explains Skiff’s dream of grandeur: The bluefin tuna is not just a fish, because he can sell it and use the money to fix the Mary Rose, which he believes will heal his father and put an end to Tyler’s bullying. The tuna is thus worth the effort of planning and fishing.

“Once I’m out on the creek I stop worrying about Mr. Woodwell and start thinking about the giant fish. The big bluefin. I can almost hear it talking. Sassing me like a bully in the schoolyard.”

Skiff is used to overcoming obstacles, so he frames the bluefin tuna as a familiar one: He compares the tuna to his bully Tyler. He’s never harpooned a tuna, so he uses a personal experiences to mentally prepare.

“Mom’s Three Rules. Rule Number One, think smart. Rule Number Two, speak true. Rule Number Three, never give up. First two I'm always forgetting. The third one, that’s why I’m out here. Only thing, what if never giving up means not thinking smart or speaking true? Does it cancel out?”

This quote introduces Skiff’s mother’s three rules, which are repeated throughout the novel to emphasize their importance. Skiff finds it easy to never give up, but thinking smart proves harder, especially when thinking smart entails “giving up.” By the end of his fishing, he realizes one can follow the two rules at once.

“Put the light behind you and steer for the big red buoy.

My dad said that the first time he ever took me out in the Mary Rose. Sat me on his lap and let me steer for the buoy. He was always doing that, explaining which way to go, what rocks to stay clear of, and where the channel markers were.”

Up until this point, Skiff has mostly recounted his mother’s advice. Now, he recounts his father’s knowledge, showing both parents’ influence on him despite their absence—reinforcing The Centrality of Family.

“It’s not like I think my mom is really talking to me. More like all the things she said are stored inside my brain and come out when I’m alone.”

This quote reinforces The Centrality of Family by explaining Skiff’s mother’s influence on him after death. Skiff continues to have “conversations” with her, recalling her personality and rules as guidance.

“The sun comes up, eventual. It always does, don’t it? No matter how much we fret and worry the night won’t end, the sun comes up. But this time the sun don’t touch the fog. Too thick for that. Fog so think, you can’t see the sun, only the light it makes. Kind of a full white glow inside the mist. […]

So you’re fogged in, so what? You can still see the boat and the water around it, can’t you? You can see farther than you can throw that big harpoon, that’s for sure. What more do you need?”

This quote reinforces The Necessity of Resilience through symbolic fog and sunlight. Fog appears and clouds Skiff’s view, but the sun partially lights his way, like it always does. This shift mirrors his persistent approach to obstacles.

“Never really knew what they meant by ‘take your breath away.’ Now I do. That big fish takes my breath away and he won’t give it back.”

Like Important Quote #10, this quote describes the giant bluefin tuna as breathtaking, almost hypnotizing or supernatural. The real thing validates Skiff’s dream of grandeur, to the point of almost forgetting his dream.

“Only a darn fool would do what I did […]. Turns out I found the fish all right, but it don’t matter because I’m not big enough or strong enough to hit one with the harpoon. So here I am thirty miles out to sea in a blind fog with nothing but a few peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and a jug of water. Oh, and a compass in case I decide to give up and go home. […]

Why bother? Home is Dad on the TV couch and a boat with no engine and a rich kid laughing while he cuts my traps. Home is where my mom don’t live anymore except she’s still there somehow, in all the rooms of our little house, me and my dad missing her something fierce and not wanting to give up how much it hurts because that would be like forgetting. […]

So I’m lying there in the bottom of my little skiff, munching on a sticky sandwich and feeling sorry for myself when the whoosh comes by.”

This quote complicates The Necessity of Resilience: Skiff is resilient, but still experiences doubt, fear, and confusion as to what to do next. However, like the sun, he eventually “rises” to the occasion. This is true resilience, trying again even after experiencing failure.

“The big bluefin is so amazing and so beautiful, I almost forget what I need to do. Almost but not quite. My dad used to call it ‘getting froze up.’ Man out in the pulpit of a tuna boat, he’s waiting for hours for a chance to throw and when the chance finally comes, he can’t do it. Like the fish sort of hypnotizes you into not throwing the harpoon.

Froze up. Come to think of it, that’s sort of what happened to Dad when Mom died. Except he ain’t on a tuna boat, he’s on the TV couch.”

Like Important Quotes #10 and #17, this quote elaborates on the bluefin tuna’s literal and symbolical beauty. The tuna is so impressive that Skiff “freezes,” like his father has due to depression. To “unfreeze” his father, he must first “unfreeze” himself and catch the fish.

“Shivering cold reminds me of the day Mom died. She’d been real sick for a long time, and we all knew what was coming, so I should have been ready, but it don’t work like that. Knowing a thing is bound to happen don’t make it easier. Thing is, you keep hoping for a miracle right up to the end and then when it don’t it’s like the floor disappears and you’re falling but you never hit bottom.”

This quote complicates The Necessity of Resilience by showing Skiff experiencing a moment of darkness. Having experienced the loss of a parent, he knows how to manage his physical and mental health—but this doesn’t make obstacles any less painful.

“I caught lots of small fish, mackerel and pollock and cod and flounder, and cleaned ‘em, too. Never bothered me, once I got used to it. But this is different. This time I feel sorry for the fish. Could have drowned me but it didn’t and now it’s dying and I’m the one who killed it. […]

Then I get to thinking what it will mean if I can get the fish to shore and sell it to Mr. Nagahachi. New engine for the Mary Rose. New traps to replace those that were cut. Something nice for my dad, that will make him feel like he used to feel before things went bad. The look on Tyler’s face when he sees me bring in a really big fish. New bicycle, new life, new everything.”

Due to the bluefin tuna’s beauty and rescue, Skiff feels guilty about killing it. However, its promised reward is worth the kill, further setting it apart from past catches (like the lobsters).

“Don’t think about nothing but rowing. […]

Pull.

I’m like a machine. A tired and worn-out machine that can’t stop or it’ll fall apart. Can’t hardly tell where my arms end and the oars begin.”

Throughout the novel, Skiff successfully calms himself. At times, he pushes other thoughts from his mind in order to focus on the task at hand—reinforcing The Necessity of Resilience.

“I want to tell the fish it won. It beat me. For every stroke of the oars it pulled back harder. It never gave up. […]

Cutting the fish loose is giving up, and that means breaking Rule Number Three. But Rule Number One is think smart. Maybe thinking smart is cutting loose the fish. Which is more important, never giving up or thinking smart?”

Although Skiff never gives up, he sometimes wants to because it’s easier than trying again after failure. However, after taking a break and prioritizing physical health, he feels rejuvenated—showing The Necessity of Resilience.

“Can’t see the compass, can’t see the fish, can’t see the end of my oars dipping into the water. Only thing I can see is the funny-looking giant striding high above the fog. Tall thing with skinny legs and a bright white halo shining behind its head. Do giants have halos? Can’t be a giant. Giants don’t exist, do they? Must be an angel. […]

Then the angel comes out of the fog and it’s a boat not an angel and the halo is a spotlight shining down from the tuna tower and a man shouts from the tower but I can’t understand what he’s saying and it might be a dream tempting me to give up so I don’t stop rowing, I never stop rowing until my father jumps down from Fin Chaser and picks me up, oars and all, and carries me to sleep.”

This quote reinforces The Centrality of Family because Skiff’s father finally leaves the house to rescue Skiff. He first appears as a giant, then an angel, illustrating the almost supernatural power of familial love; this image also evokes the deceased Mary Rose.