Loss of Innocence

The most prominent theme in "The Voyage" is the loss of childhood innocence experienced by its central character, Fenella Crane. While Fenella is still a young child, the unexpected death of her mother has thrust her into a new life – one characterized by the physical change of moving to Picton with her grandparents but also the psychological change of transitioning from youth to maturity. Through Fenella's character, the author crafts an arc of subtle behaviors and thoughts that represent a child's trajectory from dependent to independent. In the beginning of the story, for example, Fenella is being rushed toward the Picton boat by her father and grandmother. The narrator says, "Here and there on a rounded wood-pile, that was like the stalk of a huge black mushroom, there hung a lantern, but it seemed afraid to unfurl its timid, quivering light in all that...