The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Coins are key to the plot of The Ocean at the End of the Lane. The narrator awakens while choking on a coin, and his sister accuses him of hurling coins at her. The coins derive from a wish made by the spirit of a dead opal miner, who begs the supernatural creature Skarthach (Ursula) to bring money to those he cheated in life. Skarthach agrees but dispenses cash in ways that cause harm. The coins are a way for Skarthach, in her Ursula form, to more effectively manipulate people and feed off the resulting misery.

Hempstock Farm is ancient: It’s existed for hundreds of years, maybe more. Its farmhouse and many acres straddle two realms, the normal one of everyday human life and a mysteriously magical one filled with wonders and dangers. On the farm grounds, the narrator and Lettie encounter a strange, angry being, “Skarthach of the Keep” (165), who wants to enter the normal realm and please herself by wreaking havoc among humans. The narrator’s visit to the farm entangles him in its alternate reality, as he is unable to completely to shake off its residue (in the form of a worm, then Ursula).