After Ben's mom dies, his life is totally upended. That feeling gets way worse when his dad pulls him away from everything he knows to spend an entire year at sea. His journey throughout The Great Wide Sea is about regaining a sense of stability and balance.
There are some rough patches along the way, of course. Ben's circumstances take a big-time turn for the worse when his dad goes missing and the ship crashes into a rock. At the end of the day, Ben finds a way to weather all that change and make it back to solid ground, both literally and figuratively.
Questions About Change
- What things change for the better over the course of the novel? What things change for the worse?
- Apart from his physical appearance, how does Mr. Byron change after his wife's death?
- How does Ben know that Dylan's health has taken a turn for the worse after his leg starts to heal?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
In The Great Wide Sea, the secret to life is learning to deal with change.
In The Great Wide Sea, the characters learn that change—even dramatic change—is a natural part of life.