Gaiman’s “The Ocean at the End of the Lane”
reinvents myths, many of which consist of Greek mythology. One of the more
obvious examples includes the triple goddess, the Maiden, Mother, and Crone,
which are portrayed as Gran, Ginnie, and Lettie in this novel.
At one point in the story, the main
character wakes up choking on an old coin. This could possibly reference
Charon’s obol, which is (defined by trusty old Wikipedia) an allusive term for
a coin placed in or on the mouth of a dead person before burial, being used as
a payment for the passage across the river Styx into the Underworld.
I believe the hunger-birds, or “varmints,”
can also be a homage to Stymphalian birds (although this might be stretching it
a bit.) These creatures are described as pets of the goddess Artemis, which
would destroy crops and eat humans with bronze beaks.
