The Beach Club

When Mack Peterson first arrived on Nantucket, he heard a “Hum. Hum. Home—it sounded like a voice saying, ‘Home’” (5). Over the 12 years that he’s worked at the hotel, Mack has heard the voice “too many times to count” (6). When he asks others if they hear it, too, they tell him they don’t. This is because the voice is a personal symbol representing Mack’s deepest desire: to find stability. That the voice reflects Mack’s own unconscious wishes is evident when, after Andrea’s rejection, Mack contemplates “driv[ing] into the sound” (157). Then he hears “a low thrumming voice. Home” (157), a reminder to find home within himself rather than with another person.

Mack has trouble accepting this. During difficult times, Mack deliberately misinterprets the voice. For instance, after How-Baby offers him the job in Texas, Mack imagines that “maybe How-Baby [is] the voice he was waiting for” (193). His externalization of the voice speaks to the fact that he does not yet believe in his ability to define his future. This changes during the hurricane, when Mack realizes that the hotel “[is] where he want[s] to be” (311). Almost immediately after he tells Bill he’ll stay on as manager, Mack hears “the hum, loud and distinct over the scream of the wind.