Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, child death, animal death, graphic violence, physical abuse, sexual harassment, and cursing.

Each of the characters in Wild Dark Shore represents a different aspect of the core theme of ethical action in the face of climate change. Collectively, they articulate both positive and negative reactions to the existential threat that anthropogenic climate change poses to humanity, wildlife, and ecosystems more generally.

Rowan is emblematic of a transformation from nihilistic despair in the face of climate-change-driven destruction to a more positive, proactive approach. When Rowan first arrives on Shearwater Island, her views about what can be done about climate change are bleak. She shares her husband Hank’s view that “this world is a dumpster fire” (245), saying, “[W]e’re all fucked. We’re dead. […] All life: drowned, burned, or starved” (256). However, she learns from the proactive stances of the Salt family and reframes her feelings about how to respond. Dominic, though “shaken” by the effects of climate change, encourages her not to give up with simple, straightforward advice. He repairs things “that are gonna break again soon. […] Because someone has to, or everything just stays broken” (122). He later explains, “[M]aybe we will drown or burn or starve one day, but until then we get to choose if we’ll add to that destruction or if we will care for each other” (256).