Growing Up Wild: Reflections on Early Middle Childhood as Captured by Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

Abstract

A pattern of psychic fragmentation followed by consolidation occurs throughout life and can be seen in all developmental stages. Using Neil Gaiman's novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, the authors focus on the experience of disorganization and re-organization in early middle childhood. The frequency with which young boys use fantasy to contain affects and impulses makes the literary genre of magic realism especially well-suited for the exploration of psychological states during early middle childhood.