Surfacing Theme of Death

The premise of Surfacing is that the narrator and her friends are returning to the narrator's childhood home to search for her missing father. Given that mission—and the fact that no one really seems to think the narrator will find her father alive—death is kind of looming over the novel from the outset. The fact that Anna is constantly reading murder mysteries further adds to the kind of sinister, "death is nigh!" mood.

As the story progresses, the narrator struggles with the barriers that death imposes, but she ultimately comes to believe she can cross the line between the living and the dead to communicate with her deceased parents (yes, her dad's body is found toward the end). Through some nature-focused rituals, the narrator believes she achieves this communion, which fortifies her for returning to everyday life.

All in all—at least in the novel's universe—death doesn't end up being as scary or final a force as we might have guessed. In fact, the narrator's friends are actually a lot scarier.

1. Anna spends most of the trip plowing through murder mystery novels. Beyond just bringing our attention back to death, what is the significance of her reading habits?
2. How does the narrator's perspective on death evolve throughout the story?
3. The narrator remembers her brother as pretty violence-death-war obsessed. What is his role in the story and its treatment of death?
4. What do you make of the novel's supernatural and-or spiritual elements? Is the narrator's communion with her deceased parents portrayed as a spiritual episode, or a psychological one?

Although she starts out fearing death, the narrator ultimately comes to believe that life and death actually aren't so different—and being able to communicate across that great "divide" helps her move on with her life.

Not so fast there—the narrator's supposed communication with the dead isn't so much a spiritual connection as a psychological episode, albeit one that allows her to work out her issues and get ready to move on with her life.