The Line Tender

“From his excitement, I would’ve guessed it was a megalodon.”

Lucy says this when she overhears tourists at the store excitedly discussing how a local fisherman has caught a shark. Lucy is clearly familiar with sharks since she uses the term “megalodon.” Lucy’s mocking tone suggests that sharks are a common part of her world, juxtaposing the tourists’ excitement.

“Maggie Kelly was tiny, but she walked with the thunder of a rhino.”

Lucy uses the metaphor “the thunder of a rhino” to demonstrate how Maggie Kelly has strength and commands attention, despite her frame. The comparison to an animal demonstrates Lucy’s interest in animals and brings up one of the book’s themes, The Interconnectedness of Humans and Nature. Maggie is one of several women in Lucy’s life who is a mother figure to her after her own mother’s death.

“She had been gone five years. Most of the time, Dad and I were okay without Mom, even though I still thought about her every day. But my grief for her was like a circle. I always came around to missing her again.”

Lucy uses the simile of a circle to describe how her grieving process for her mother moves in a cycle, often triggered by her surroundings and impossible to break out of. Lucy returns to this simile at the end of the chapter when she sees her mother’s interview playing on TV. Seeing and hearing her mother makes Lucy feel as if she’s just lost her all over again.

“Mom was wearing white coveralls, like a painter, and a headlamp glowed like a star in the center of her forehead.”

By comparing her mother to a painter, Lucy creates a connection between her own artistic sensibility and her mother’s scientific pursuits. The simile “like a star” shows how Lucy sees the beauty in her mother’s work, despite its challenges and proximity to death. Also, the simile of the star casts her mother in the role of a guide—like a guiding star. Helen does play this role in the novel; it is ultimately her advice not to turn away from pain that helps Lucy and Tom to move past their grief.

“He did a double take and gave me a look. ‘Nice glasses.’”

This quote shows Fred’s growing attraction to Lucy. Fiona, Lucy’s mentor and Fred’s older sister, picked out the glasses that Lucy wears in this scene. The glasses accentuate Lucy’s features, and Fred notices and compliments this. He does a “double take” because he is struck by her beauty and also because he suddenly sees her in a different way than before. This brings up the changes that these characters experience as a result of Adolescence and First Love.

“He started unconsciously tapping his toe on my toe while he scrawled more notes onto the paper. Then this buzz radiated up my calves, like a spark climbing a long fuse up my gangly legs, tripping off a series of flashes in my thighs and shoulders.”

Lucy describes her physical reaction to Fred’s touch using the simile “like a spark climbing a long fuse,” which highlights the buzzy, exciting nature of her feelings. This description shows that Lucy is physically attracted to Fred, which is a new feeling she has toward an old friend since she is on the brink of adolescence.

“‘I got my period,’ I’d told him.

‘Oh,’ he’d said.

And I was surprised by how unaffected he’d seemed, like I’d told him I’d replaced the toilet paper roll.”

This quote shows how Lucy’s mother’s death impacted Lucy’s understanding of and preparedness for her first period. This quote also shows that Fred, because of his close relationship with his mother and sisters, guided Lucy as best he could through this milestone. Lucy going to Fred when she got her first period, rather than her father, shows how close their friendship was, while she felt like her father was absent from her life.

“It was hard to imagine ever picking up the phone to call Ms. Solomon. Fred and my dad were the only people I ever called.”

Lucy’s only friend was Fred, and despite the presence of several key adults in her life, like Maggie and Mr. Patterson, Lucy doesn’t have strong connections to adult role models in her life. This builds on the theme of The Role of Community in Coping With Grief; Lucy must learn to reach out to other people, and so must her father, to survive Fred’s loss.

“Sometimes it’s easier for people to make sense of things…if they can put the blame on someone.”

Lucy’s father tries to explain why the newspaper articles seem to blame Lester or Maggie for Fred’s accidental death. Lucy’s father’s perspective suggests that he may have experienced a similar feeling after Lucy’s mother died, even though that was also an accident. This quote provides context for why Sookie and Tom fell out of touch after Helen’s death since Tom believes that Sookie was partially responsible for it since he was out at sea with Helen when she got sick and died.

“I remember a real dividing line between what it was like before she died and what it was like after. They were just my parents and I didn’t worry about anything.”

Lucy uses the metaphor of a “diving line” to describe how different her life was before and after her mother’s death. Lucy characterizes that difference primarily in terms of how she had no worries or responsibilities as a child; after losing a parent, Lucy feels like she lost the innocence of childhood.

“His hands shook like a bobblehead doll when he reached for the medication.”

The simile “like a bobblehead doll” demonstrates how Vern’s illness has affected his motor skills. Lucy’s reference to a bobblehead also demonstrates how she takes traumatic or difficult images—like illness—and transforms them into something less frightening.

“If I was going to be the census taker, then this was my research paper and I could give Sookie a farmer’s tan if I wanted to.”

Lucy drawing over the images in her mother’s research paper symbolizes how Lucy is taking ownership over the research project by connecting her artistic and scientific passions. Lucy’s humor in giving Sookie a farmer’s tan shows how she’s navigating the edge between childhood and adulthood.

“I needed to get down to business. But when I looked at the sketch pad, all I had were puzzle pieces of the shark, when I needed to have a complete portrait.”

Lucy uses the metaphor of a puzzle to describe how she understands only certain parts of how a shark functions—from Sookie, her mother’s work, and Fred’s books—but she’s still missing how the information works together as a unit. This moment foreshadows how Lucy will be able to see all the parts of a shark working together later in the novel when Dr. Robin Walker invites her to the necropsy.

“Maybe writing to him will help you figure out your own feelings. And maybe he is talking to you through sharks. Who am I to tell you you’re wrong?”

Mr. Scanlon affirms Lucy’s postcard writing, claiming that writing can be a method to move through grief. Mr. Scanlon encourages Lucy to take any steps that help her process her feelings because he understands that there is no proper or correct way; moving past grief is a process filled with mystery and trial and error.

“He liked to quote JFK, who apparently said once that the percentage of salt in our blood is the same as what’s in the ocean and because of this connection we always come back to the sea. That was my parents exactly.”

Both of Lucy’s parents felt a deep draw to the ocean. At this point in the novel, Lucy is still afraid to go out on open water. This quote foreshadows how Lucy will also return to the ocean in the novel’s resolution.

“Looking into Sookie’s cooler, I thought about the choking factor of the rubbery meat, but lobster was one of my favorite meals. There had to be a way to get it down.”

Lucy develops a choking problem as a response to Fred’s death. This quote shows how Lucy’s attitude toward this problem has shifted since her visit to Vern. Right after Fred’s death, Lucy chose not to eat to avoid the choking feeling, but Marion encourages her to take it slow and trust her body. In this scene, Lucy believes she can move past her trauma response and try to enjoy her favorite food.

“I felt angry that Fred and Mom would never know me as a grown woman.”

This quote shows how layered grief can be; Lucy mourns that she can’t be with Fred and her mother in the present, but she also mourns that they won’t get to see her grow up. Lucy understands that she’s still developing her identity and wishes that Fred and her mother could see her through that process.

“‘No, you’re my sister,’ she said. ‘Not biologically, but better. More meaningful. I don’t know.’”

Fiona acknowledges how she and Lucy have become like family to each other because of the things they have survived. This demonstrates how Fiona’s role as a mentor has shifted over the course of the novel: She was Lucy’s acquaintance before, and now she feels a sisterly attachment to her.

“‘A necropsy?’ he says, making a gruesome face. ‘Like mother, like daughter.’”

Mr. Patterson’s response to Lucy’s invitation to join her at the beach for the shark necropsy demonstrates how Lucy has grown closer to her mother by pursuing her research and talking more openly about her with her father and Sookie. Mr. Patterson’s quote represents how accepting death has strengthened Lucy’s bond with her mother; Lucy is comfortable attending a shark necropsy, which represents her comfort with death and the unknown.

“With his boot in the sand and his camera around his neck, he was home.”

Lucy uses the image of her father on the beach to characterize how her father still returns to the water even though it has taken his wife and Fred away. The image of an injured Tom by the water represents recovery from emotional and physical injury.

“‘Because looking at a dead shark will tell us something about the ones that are still alive,’ Robin said.”

Dr. Robin’s observation symbolizes how Lucy’s attention to the people she’s lost—Fred and her mother—has taught her more about herself, her father, Maggie, and Sookie. This quote claims that ignoring or forgetting those who have died will keep a person from understanding those who are still alive.

“I thought immediately of the moon snail that Fred showed me in Folly Cove and I wondered how nature could make that perfect pattern in two different animals, for different reasons. The pattern was beautiful.”

This quote demonstrates how Lucy’s artistic sensibility helps her notice scientific details. Lucy noticing the golden ratio in the shark and the snail reflects the theme of the interconnectedness of the natural world.

“The camera tracked Mom as she followed the shark, as though she were flying by us. Her flippers rippled and she was gone. ‘Real women look like that,’ I said.”

Lucy refers to her earlier conversation with Fiona about the sexualized women on the cover of the comic books. Lucy now connects strength and intelligence with womanhood, demonstrating her personal development.