Much of Neil Gaiman's work is centered around myth and The Ocean at the End of the Lane is no exception. Although I think the Grimm fairytales have a large influence on how Neil Gaiman shapes the plot and theme of his stories, I couldn't help but feel that The Ocean at the End of the Lane had a strong resemblance to the epic poem Beowulf. Much of the book is a monster in the closet type of plot. A. There is a monster. B. It is in your closet. C. Nobody believes you. What is different is that, in my opinion, the main character / narrator doesn't really do much to fix the problem. In other media that follow this archetype, Alien for instance, the main character is with the monster and has to deal with it. There is no doubt that Ripley dealt with the giant, human-wrecking monster, but when it came to getting rid of the "flea", our main character was less than heroic. This brings me to why I brought up Beowulf.
If Grendel is the Flea then by extension Letty Hempstock, the one who did most of the work in vanquishing the flea, is Beowulf. It might be a stretch to compare a small english farm girl from another dimension to a nordic Scandinavian warrior hunk, but let's try it. This means that the narrator is King Hrothgar. To put this in context:
- The narrator's world is unhinged when he accidentally brings the "flea" into existence through the hole in his foot. This is very similar to how King Hrothgar upsets Grendel with all his loud parties.
- The narrator then gets the champion Letty Hempstock to protect him and fight off the evil. Again, this is like Beowulf showing up and vowing to end Grendel. The only difference is Beowulf hails from over the ocean, and Letty hails from the ocean.
- After defeating the flea / Grendel the overprotective overseer and other monsters help the villain, or at the very least, doesn't make the journey any easier. These are either the hunger birds, or Grendel's mom / the dragon.
- The champion, Letty and Beowulf, die to defeat these monsters in the end.
The monument constructed at the end of Beowulf to remember him is also very similar to how the main character in The Ocean at the end of the Lane is remembering all of this story on a bench by the ocean.