Ancestral Influence in The Shipping News

	One of the largest and most inescapable influencing forces in all of our lives is our ancestry.  The actions of our ancestors can affect our lives in many ways, both positive and negative, and this is especially true for the characters in The Shipping News, by E. Annie Proulx.  The ancestors of Quoyle, the Aunt and Bunny all have a profound effect on these character's lives in the book.  The actions of Quoyle's father, the ancestral Quoyles, and Nolan all have incredibly negative effects on the lives of Quoyle and his family, but even the most negative ancestral influence can indirectly result in some good in the lives of Quoyle and his family in The Shipping News.  The ancestors of Quoyle, Bunny, and the Aunt influence these three character's lives in many negative ways, but the negative influence of the ancestors can still result in positive outcomes for Quoyle and his family.
	One of the most influencing ancestral characters in The Shipping News was Quoyle's father.  Quoyle's father contributed greatly to Quoyle's lack of self-esteem, since, rather than being encouraging, like a parent should, he instead showed no confidence in Quoyle, and from Quoyle's 
“failure to dog paddle the father saw other failures multiply like an explosion of virulent cells-failure to speak clearly; failure to sit up straight; failure to get up in the morning; failure in attitude; failure in ambition and ability; indeed, in everything” (Proulx 2).  The father saw only a failure of a child in Quoyle, and as such, Quoyle did not receive the pride or confidence his father should have shown him.  This caused him to have little confidence in himself.  In addition to his father's lack of confidence in him, his father destroyed his self esteem further by calling him names such as “you lout” (Proulx 2).  Quoyle's experiences with his father, and his repeated failures in his father's eyes shaped his unsure personality, and caused him to suffer from the confidence issues and low self-esteem that we see in The Shipping News.  Quoyle's father not only affected Quoyle's life, but also that of the aunt.  Quoyle's father raped the aunt, his sister, when she was only a young girl, and this experience traumatized her.  Her hatred toward Quoyle's father can be seen from the delight she takes from “the thought that she, that his own son and grandchildren, would daily void their bodily wastes on his remains”(Proulx 100).  The fact that the aunt would commit such an act shows the severe effect that her brother's actions had on her.  Although Quoyle and the aunt both suffered greatly because of Quoyle's father, this common suffering led to a positive occurrence in both of their lives.  If Agnis had not come to pick up her brother's ashes, the two would likely have never met, and would never have been able to start their new successful lives together.  Although Quoyle's father had many terrible influences upon the lives of Quoyle and Agnis, he is also the common factor that brought them together, enabling them to begin their lives together, which was a positive occurrence for them both.
	The actions of the ancestral Quoyles also had many negative effects on the cha