Exploring Memory in Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane

The Ocean at the End of the Lane, a short novel written by Neil Gaiman, is an almost fairytale-like story narrated from the perspective of a seven year-old boy. The novel opens with an adult man, who goes unnamed through the entire story, which is told in the first person, returning to his old neighborhood after a funeral. The man is compelled to visit his former neighbors, the Hempstock women, who live at the end of the lane. Once there, he bypasses almost all conversation and asks to sit by the pond in their backyard. From there, the story steps backward in time as the man relives his days as a seven year-old, and the reader is taken along for the experience. What the reader doesn’t fully understand at the beginning of the book is that this man is compelled to return to the pond every so often when he is having a hard time with life. As he is drawn toward the pond, his memories of that time return, and when he leaves the pond, the memories fade away, forgotten entirely. Every visit …