The Ocean is Six Miles Deep
"I don't know if I've come of age, but I'm certainly older now. I feel shrunken, as if there's a tiny ancient Oliver Tate inside me operating the levers of a life-size Oliver-shaped shell. A shell on which a decrepit picture show replays the same handful of images. Every night I come to the same place and wait till the sky catches up with my mood. The pattern is set. This is, no doubt, the end.”
-Joe Dunthorne, Submarine
In the seaside town of Swansea, Wales lives almost 15 year old, Oliver Tate. Precocious and with a penchant for theatrics, Oliver is navigating his way through the murky and uniquely perilous waters of adolescence. Joe Dunthone’s 2008 critically acclaimed novel Submarine is a coming-of-age story that has connected with young adults all over the world, and continues to reach broader audiences as a film adaption released in 2010.
As Submarine was written by Dunthorne as a young adult studying creative writing at the University of East Anglia, it’s unsurprising that it is successful in connecting to the trials and tribulations of it’s readers. Though a coming-of-age novel in the most traditional sense, it can be better classified as a bildungsroman. A subset of the coming-of-age story, bildungsromans focus on the psychological and moral growth of a protagonist throughout their youth, in which character development is extremely important.
Concerned with taking it upon himself to resolve his parents teetering marriage, whilst attempting to seduce his classmate Jordana Bevan, and trying to figure out where he fits in the world, Oliver masters his formidable, uninhibited powers of imagination in order to put everything in its right place.
"Depression comes in bouts. Like boxing. Dad is in the blue corner."
Upon finding an empty bottle of tricyclic antidepressants in the bin by his dad's bedside table, Oliver discovers that his father struggles with bouts of depression. This is a common theme in YA fiction as it's presence has the ability to help readers on an individual basis. These novels have the opportunity to provide readers with a realistic representation of people struggling with depression, and serves as a constant reminder that you're not alone.
Oliver and Lloyd often pose the question "How deep is the ocean?" to one another, and this reoccurring thought serves as an anchor for reality as the answer is always the same. Though their lives may be rocked by the current or caught in a raging tempest, the depth of the ocean is a constant. In the film, this is further enhanced when Oliver requests that Jordana ask him how deep the ocean is, simply because he knows the answer.
Diving into the depths of middle-aged malaise is unsurprisingly difficult for a teenager. Especially for someone who has admitted that it’s “strange to hear your mother talk about being human because, honestly, it's too easy to forget.”
(Submarine 2010)
"I want the evening upon which we lose our collective virginities to be special. I'm no parthenologist but I suspect that Jordana's virginity is still intact. Her biological knowledge is minimal. She thinks that a perineum is to do with glacial moraine."
On his quest to commence a story of teenage passion with the troubled and alluring Jordana, Oliver discovers the difficulties of losing his virginity and trying to navigate the depths of heartache. Through love letters and attempts at grand romantic gestures, he stumbles his way through the world of romance, which he supposes probably "will not matter when [he's] forty-three".
The importance of the portrayal of love in YA fiction lies in it's serving as a reminder for why it matters so much, and that it's not something to take for granted. The role of love in Submarine is particularly interesting as it's told from the male perspective. Though love is a very popular topic among female readers, it is not as common that a story with a male protagonist looks at the ups and downs of love and sexuality. Typically, love is more often presented as a reward for the male hero, and not something they have to earn.
Additionally the way in which Dunthorne addresses sex is beneficial to the reader, as it is portrayed as a real thing that adults and teenagers have. Not talking about sex is unproductive, unrealistic and unhealthy for young people. It's important that it is not made out to be this perfect thing, but nor is it something that is scary and should be avoided. The use of sexuality in YA fiction is useful in encouraging healthy and safe exploration of sexuality.
“I spin around on the swivel chair and look up at the ceiling; Oliver being Oliver being Oliver being Oliver. I am suddenly aware of the separation between my-actual-self and myself-as-seen-by-others. Who would win in an arm wrestle? Who is better-looking? Who has the higher IQ?”
Many coming-of-age stories highlight the difficulties of struggling to realise your own identity in the face of pressures to conform
. Though adults are certainly not immune from this idea, many young people struggle with the temptation to obscure individual interests or values in order to fit in. Oliver subscribes to this issue.
Though he does not approve of bullying, he finds himself being peer pressured into tormenting one of his classmates, Zoe Preece. Though decidedly aligning himself with his bully friends in order to impress Jordana, Oliver struggles with his guilt over taking part in Zoe's harassment. This in conjunction with his oddball nature and ever changing list of hobbies and interests, reads as an authentic take on someone struggling to discover their own identity.
The role of identity in YA fiction is a frequently occurring one as, in theory, finding your place between being a child and being an adult is a teenagers main concern. In this period you often try out different styles, different friends and different values, and as a result every young persons search for identity is unique. Reading provides the opportunity to slip into character as someone else, take on someone else's identity, and so can aid the development of your own.
(Submarine, 2010)
In spite of some of the content in Submarine, Dunthorne does a remarkable job of dealing with serious issues in a fun and relatable way.
It's difficult being a teenager and realising that you can't control everything, nobody can, and that your parents are people too and often are as clueless as you are. Everyone is in the same boat and the only thing that you can be certain about is that the ocean is six miles deep. Spending time with fictional characters who's problems may be similar, though often exaggerated, allows the reader to find solace and look at aspects of themselves or their lives that may be otherwise painful to look at. Following someone's journey into adulthood gives readers the opportunity to make sense of the messy business of growing up.
Joe Dunthorne's Submarine allows you to see and accept contradictions that are inherent in human behaviour and, just as Oliver realises that his problems will matter to him when he's forty-three, can encourage you to consider the events and moments in your own life that have marked your own coming of age.
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