The Ocean’s Double Meaning
The light house: A love storyThis flow traces the ocean as Blake McGrath’s creative source, site of catastrophe, and eventual medium of release.
increasing
Bearing strength in each event
decreasing
Bearing strength in each eventdecreasingThe Original Muse
The Original Muse
Inspiration
Blake McGrath builds his reputation by painting the sea’s changing moods.
Discipline
He studies waves, light, rocks, and weather with almost scientific devotion.
Achievement
The ocean carries him to the height of his career.
The Fatal Shore
The Fatal Shore
Tragedy
Chloe drowns on the beach while Blake McGrath is absorbed in his work.
Reversal
The sea changes from inspiration into an agent of punishment in his mind.
Exile
He abandons ocean painting and withdraws from the world.
The Painted Substitute
The Painted Substitute
Memory
Blake McGrath places an imagined adult Chloe within seascapes.
Grief
The ocean becomes the background against which impossible survival is imagined.
Ambivalence
Every beautiful image both memorializes Chloe and repeats the trauma.
The Drowning Reenactment
The Drowning Reenactment
Return
Blake McGrath enters the water after Connie Dixon challenges his despair.
Repetition
The sea recreates the terror surrounding Chloe’s death.
Difference
This time he chooses life and returns to the person calling him home.
The Reclaimed Shore
The Reclaimed Shore
Farewell
Blake McGrath releases his nightly rose into the sea and says goodbye to Chloe.
Release
The beach no longer demands permanent vigil.
Renewal
The ocean remains powerful but no longer owns his entire identity.
Before Chloe’s death
Five years before the main action
During Blake McGrath’s isolated years
During Blake McGrath’s crisis after blindness
After Blake McGrath’s farewell to Chloe
