Of all the characters in “The Shipping News” by Annie Proulx, it is Quoyle, the protagonist of the story, who undergoes the most change. Quoyle is an extremely uncoordinated, overweight man with a large protruding chin. Since he was a child, he grew up with cruel verbal abuse from his classmates and his father constantly told him that he was a failure. As a result, Quoyle is weak, lonely, vulnerable, submissive, and truly believes that he will always be a failure. The pain from his family history and personal past continually torments Quoyle. Separating himself from his family line of murderers and cruel abusers, Quoyle develops a strong character and is finally able to look at himself without feelings of self-loathing. The Quoyle family name is associated with murder, piracy and incest. Negativity and isolation followed the family from generation to generation. This is evident in Quoyle's Point's physical location, isolated and remote from the rest of the city, and also in the family's local reputation in Newfoundland. This is also demonstrated by the poor treatment of Quo...