Plot Summary (AQA A-Level English Literature A): Revision Notes

Plot summary

Waterland by Graham Swift, published in 1983, is a complex novel that weaves together multiple timelines and narratives. The story is told through the voice of Tom Crick, a middle-aged history teacher who faces a personal and professional crisis. Rather than following a straightforward chronological path, the novel jumps between different time periods, creating a rich tapestry of interconnected events spanning over 200 years of history in the East Anglian Fens.

The narrative framework

The novel begins in 1974 with Tom Crick's present-day crisis. He has been dismissed from his teaching position at a comprehensive school in Greenwich following a disturbing incident involving his wife, Mary. As Tom prepares to leave his job, he abandons the formal curriculum and instead begins telling his students a series of personal stories about his family history and the landscape of the Fens where he grew up. These classroom lessons provide the framework through which the various plot strands unfold.

Tom's narrative is triggered when Mary commits an act that shocks the local community: she snatches a baby from a supermarket, claiming divine instruction. This incident, rooted in Mary's desperate desire for a child and her increasingly religious outlook, forces Tom to confront long-buried secrets from his past. His student Price, who is obsessed with nuclear apocalypse and questions the value of studying history, challenges Tom to explain why history matters, particularly when facing potential global destruction.

The Atkinson family origins (19th century)

The earliest timeline takes us back to the 19th century and the origins of the Atkinson family. Tom's great-grandfather, Thomas Atkinson, accumulates considerable wealth by brewing Jubilee ale for Queen Victoria's 1887 celebrations. However, the family's fortune comes with tragedy and scandal. Thomas's wife Sarah struggles with infidelity, and their son Ernest eventually takes his own life following a parliamentary bribery scandal.

In 1874, Ernest's wife dies, possibly due to madness. During the Jubilee riots of 1897, a fire breaks out at the brewery. From this troubled lineage emerges Helen, who gives birth to Dick in unusual circumstances. Dick is later revealed to be Tom's brother, though he is described as an 'incestuous idiot', suggesting problematic family relationships. The lockkeeper Henry Crick, who becomes Tom's father, takes on the role of raising Dick after Ernest's suicide, embodying the Fens' endless cycles of fortune and misfortune.

The 1943 adolescent tragedy

The heart of the novel's emotional drama occurs in 1943, when Tom is a teenager living in the Fens during World War II. Tom and his girlfriend Mary Metcalf lose their virginity at Leaning Tower windmill, a moment that sets in motion a series of devastating events. Mary becomes pregnant, and the young couple seek help from Martha Clay, known locally as a 'cunning woman', who performs an abortion. The procedure leaves Mary unable to have children, a loss that haunts her throughout her adult life.

Complicating matters further is Freddie Parr, a rival who becomes entangled in the tragedy. Freddie drowns in the River Lode, and while the official verdict is accidental death, Tom harbours suspicions about what really happened. Dick, Tom's brother, is implicated in Freddie's death. The drowning may have resulted from Dick's violent rage after learning about Mary's paternity lie—a deception connected to the complicated family dynamics.

During this period, Tom discovers a letter hidden in the attic that reveals shocking information: Dick is actually Helen's son, making him Ernest's grandson. Tom also learns that he himself is Henry's son, clarifying the family's tangled relationships. The emotional weight of these revelations, combined with Freddie's death, leads Dick to commit suicide by drowning himself in the Ouse sluice.

The 1943 tragedy concludes with an unexpected event: Henry Crick's alcoholism comes to an end through what Mary describes as a miracle. She claims to have stopped a train through the power of prayer, an incident that foreshadows her later religious obsession.

Adult marriage and present crisis (1974)

Tom and Mary marry in 1945, attempting to build a life together despite the traumatic events of their youth. However, their marriage is shadowed by Mary's inability to have children. Over the years, Mary becomes increasingly religious, developing a visionary quality as she seeks spiritual comfort for her childlessness.

In 1974, Tom is teaching at a comprehensive school where he encounters Price, a student deeply concerned about nuclear weapons and what he calls the end of history. Price's nihilistic worldview challenges Tom's role as a history teacher. Meanwhile, the Headmaster, Lewis, represents the 'Thatcherite' educational approach, prioritising subjects perceived as practical and future-oriented, particularly science and technology, over humanities subjects like history.

The crisis erupts when Mary, driven by her desperate longing for a child and religious delusions, steals a baby from a supermarket, believing God has instructed her to do so. This act, which she justifies by saying 'God told me', becomes the catalyst for Tom's dismissal. Forced to confront his past, Tom abandons his planned lessons and instead begins teaching his students about the Fens, about land reclamation, about his family history, and about the nature of history itself. He focuses particularly on Vermuyden's 17th-century drainage projects that transformed the Fens, using this as a metaphor for humanity's attempts to control nature and destiny.

Tom also explores the metaphor of eels and their spawning patterns in the Sargasso Sea, using natural cycles to discuss themes of fertility, return, and the inexorable patterns of life. Through these 'history lessons', Tom tries to help his students—and himself—understand how the past shapes the present.

The novel's climax and resolution

The novel builds towards a climax where Tom must confront both Price's philosophy and his own understanding of history. Price advocates for a linear view of progress, believing that history leads inevitably towards an endpoint—potentially nuclear annihilation. Tom, however, comes to reject this linear narrative.

Instead, Tom embraces a cyclical understanding of time and history. He articulates this through the metaphor of water and wheels, suggesting that 'time is... a great waterwheel, turning and turning'. This vision acknowledges that history repeats itself, that the Fens' cycles of flooding and reclamation mirror human experiences of fertility and sterility, fortune and tragedy.

Tom institutionalises Mary, a painful decision that acknowledges her inability to cope with reality. He also confronts the limitations of his own role as a teacher and historian. In the end, Tom returns symbolically to his lockkeeper roots, affirming the value of storytelling even in the face of endings. He suggests that history is not about absolute facts or predetermined conclusions, but about the stories we tell to make sense of our lives.

The novel's structure reinforces this cyclical theme. Rather than concluding definitively, the narrative loops back on itself, suggesting that the patterns of the past will continue into the future.

Structural features of the narrative

Waterland is notable for its non-chronological structure. The novel is divided into chapters that do not follow a traditional timeline. Instead, they mimic the meandering waterways of the Fens, doubling back, flowing in unexpected directions, and eventually connecting. This structure challenges readers to piece together the chronology themselves, mirroring Tom's own process of understanding his past.

Tom's O-level history lessons provide a framing device for the family secrets and personal histories he reveals. As he teaches his students, he interweaves formal historical content about the Fens with intimate personal memories.

The novel employs postmodern techniques, particularly metafiction, by questioning the nature of truth and the distinction between 'facts' and 'stories'. Tom's narrative constantly reflects on the process of history-making itself, asking what we can truly know and how we construct meaning from the past. The Fens setting serves as a microcosm for exploring England's post-industrial condition, particularly during the Thatcher era, when traditional industries and ways of life were disappearing.

Through its complex structure, Waterland explores how the past cannot be contained in neat, chronological packages. Instead, memory works associatively, circling back to traumatic events, finding connections across generations, and revealing how history—both personal and collective—shapes who we are.