Does THE SHORE by Sara Taylor Infringe the Copyright of THE FISHER KING by Hayley Kelsey? Read on to Decide for Yourself (and see more at https://medium.com/@hayleykelseyauthor)
History:
Does THE SHORE Have Striking and Substantial Similarities to THE FISHER KING?
Does THE SHORE Have Plot and Theme Similarities to THE FISHER KING?
There are the eight main elements that comprise the “heart” on which The Fisher King turns, and The Shore takes six of them:
1. Conservation—The importance of reclaiming island & sea from environmental damage.
2. Setting—The importance of place, specifically island, & family historical connection to it, to identity
3. Community—The importance of community to sense of belonging.
4. Inheritance—The importance of inheriting & passing on: island, farmland, family history, vanishing way of life, genes, a future.
5. Male infertility—The importance of male fertility to pass on: island, farmland, family name, vanishing way of life, genes.
6. Generational illegitimacy—Each generation of female characters have affairs and illegitimate. pregnancies, births to circumvent male infertility to pass on: island, farmland, family name, vanishing way of life, genes.
Does THE SHORE Have Line-by-Line Similarities to THE FISHER KING?
7—Setting: Accomack Island on Chesapeake Bay Eastern Shore IDENTICAL TO 5—Trappe Island on Chesapeake Bay Eastern Shore
8—They’re [crabs] pretty—chalky white with smudges of bright blue like someone’s brushed them with ladies’ eye shadow STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 156—“I think it’s just the cutest thing that you can tell the girls from the boys [crabs] by the red on their claws, don’t you?...Why, they look like they have painted fingernails.”
9—works in one of the [poultry processing] plants...He hates the plant, the killing floors more than anything else, but it’s the only work around 19—By then he...had gone to work at the processing plant SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 387— he went out and got a job on the night shift at a poultry processing plant in Crisfield, something he swore he’d never do.
12—I heard him talking before I could see them STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 194—I heard the sailboat before I saw it.
23—He’s skinny...skinnier even than the models in the magazines at the library. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 112—Peter, on the other hand, was skinny 284—Peter was much thinner, skinny really 186—skinnier than the models in the fashion magazines at the library.
30—She...pulling herself slowly from him, and though the day is hot he immediately misses the warmth of her. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 173—Sonny removed his hand from my thigh and returned it to the wheel. Where it had rested, I felt an absence of warmth.
31—His parents...were still gentlemen farmers 187—a gentleman farmer STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 39—my father tried to affect the image of a “gentleman farmer” 337—the pose of a gentleman farmer 439—the gentleman farmer he’d always pretended to be.
33—He felt like he’d been punched in the stomach...She belonged to someone else. She was beyond his reach. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 420— His chest caved in, as if he’d been sucker punched 30— she was married...and beyond his reach.
34—he had been alone, lazily mucking out stalls. IDENTICAL TO 53— I had regular chores—mucking out stalls.
44—She hadn’t been to Salisbury…since she was born...She hadn’t been to a hospital since she was born, either. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 352—“The last time he saw a doctor was the day he was born” 357—The hospital in Salisbury
45—She liked to think that she felt even more deeply the thrum of tide in her veins...that the islands were more hers, and she more part of them STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO the ebb and flood tides. I found myself identifying with its watery ripples, its swells and dips. That’s me, I thought 289—I was reminded of my long-ago identification with the tide swirls 441— Slower to adapt was my body its circadian rhythms needed to reset themselves from being in sync with the...ebb and flow of the tides.
49—They ignore the heart monitor...the painkiller drip and bundle of tubes and valves taped to his forearm. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 425—more and more machines were crowded around him 426—the valve that adjusted King’s morphine...He checked the fluid levels of the other bags, the flow of the trailing tubes, the digital readouts on the machines.
49—Sally blows a raspberry to indicate what she thinks of that STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 437—Mom turned back to him and bent to his neck with a loud raspberry.
50—Grandpa says, “Y’all have always lived on the farm, and ya’ll always will be allowed to, but I have to deed the place to someone, and I want to deed it to someone that I know is going to be staying.” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 434— The deed to the farm….He had wanted to pass the farm down through the family…The only way to ensure that she remain on the farm was to put it all in her name.
50—The air is thick with humidity she can feel it aching to come down, but instead it continues to build and roll away SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 102— the humid air 298— Every once in a while, a massive dark cloud the color of metal filings, heavy-bellied with rain, would gather in the distance…But invariably the squalls passed without releasing even a smattering of drizzle.
52—a hurricane had nearly wiped the Shore off the face of the map. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 98— Hurricane Lola roared up the eastern seaboard…severed the northern section…Officially, it disappeared from all maps.
55—She was a come-here, they said. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 21—She’s a come ’ere 99—were still considered “come ’eres” 123—While technically a “come ’ere,” 206—That she was a “come ’ere” 219—As a “come ’ere” 309— viewed me as a “come ‘ere.”
56—the sky is bone dry clear out to the mainland. I know your irrigation pond is empty, mine is too. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 381—Up and down the mid-Atlantic bone-dry wells and cisterns and reservoirs and rivers.
57—“And what do you think you’re doing, missy?” he’d asked. IDENTICAL TO 93—“Oh yes, he can, missy” 349— “Let me tell you something...missy,” he said.
58—Cloud...The ambient moisture begins to…grow heavy, a million pregnant bellies. 335—And the air…heavy with moisture. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 9— Heavy-bellied, immobile clouds 300—a massive dark cloud…heavy-bellied with rain.
Ch IV—[Stranger from out of town wants marry Medora to own the farm she’ll inherit and she wants marry him to escape the farm.] Medora: “You want money, I want to be anywhere but here.” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 31—My father was my mother’s ticket off the farm, and she in turn represented his chance to own land.
79—It was his role to press and hers to protest, and for once she fulfilled her prescribed role. But every moment of it felt like acting. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 107—I resisted his advances…This was the way men were supposed to act, always on the prowl, always pushing to see how far they could get 108—Nothing about my own behavior with him felt genuine...I was simply acting out a role of his devising.
87-88—In the months that she was round with James, [husband] Andrew was attentive, fawning almost, and ridiculously mindful of her health and comfort STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 386—Ever since I’d told him I was pregnant, [husband] Sonny had become overly solicitous of my welfare
94—Main character named Donnie IDENTICAL TO 109-throughout—Don was called Donnie [note identical spelling]
97—“I need a pregnancy test.” STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 208—they also do pregnancy tests 354—I’d picked up a pregnancy test.
100—”You can have another one [baby].” “I want this one!” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 279—“There’ll be other babies.”...she said, bravely, “But they won’t be this one.”
102-103—When Donnie started pulling you closer and moving his hands under your clothes you didn’t know what to do. So you did nothing. And after you’d done nothing once you had to keep on doing nothing. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 107—I decided to follow his [Donnie] lead, to act as if nothing had happened. He inched closer 109—So because I didn’t know any differently, I continued to go out with him 110—letting his fingers slip under my blouse, then my skirt.
117—Here the air held a weight of its own, fixing the breath in her lungs. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 283—the salt-saturated air entering and leaving my lungs 289—The air...seemed to weight down 360—warming the air with its...weight.
117—Humidity made it impossible to find the point where her skin ended and the air began. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 102—The tepid water was as warm as the air, and the humid air seemed almost as filled with moisture as the sea, so it was impossible to tell where one stopped on my skin and the other began.
122—The grass was long and bent and silvery, waving like the surface of the ocean. It flowed away to either side of them. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 5—the wind...lifted and matted great swaths of Spartina grass until the marsh resembled billowing waves in a gentle green sea 132—winds…bent the tall cordgrass.
Ch VIII—[Aunt Medora dispenses birth control to islanders] 148—They [women seeking birth control]...called her “Aunty.” STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 101—[Aunt] Amy...educating teenagers about birth control 15—Aunt Amy, a family planning counselor.
194—“the distilling I need someone to watch pretty closely. It’s a tedious job. You’ll [Jackie] have to keep after it like you were watching a newborn.” STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 134—traditionally considered women’s work, probably because it wasn’t unlike caring for a newborn baby 156—“This business, well, it’s not an exact science...It’s a lot like taking care of newborns” 317—“These crabs are worse than newborns.”
215—The test had been…embarrassing, and she almost blushed when the nurse asked her how many partners she’d had. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 175—The sheet didn’t shy away from personal questions, including number of sexual partners...I felt myself blush
218—When she had cried...it had been just as much for the baby she wouldn’t have to remember him [Scott] by as for the loss of him 220—So here she is, alone and babyless, walled into the cottage...There was a third brother 229—There was still someone out there who could give her Scott’s baby, or close enough to Scott’s baby that it didn’t matter SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 239—The loss I felt wasn’t over the child we would never have together…The possibility of children was all I had left and now that, too, was gone 134—I...stuck in a tiny windswept shack all alone with no way out and no one to talk to for days on end 96—the Kingsley boys [three brothers] 321—If I got pregnant, I didn’t want to know who the biological father was. Sonny would be the father. After all, that was the point
225—At the best of times Tamara wasn’t a reader...She picked out the volumes on fertility...What to Expect When You’re Expecting, guides to women’s health printed on thick stapled paper...they...would help her get the baby that she wanted. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 433—Since high school the only books I’d cracked were fisheries reports 15—When I still hadn’t become pregnant...aunt Amy...loaned me several boks on conception...Our Bodies, Ourselves.
229—Seduction isn’t hard. It’s the getting-pregnant part that she’s more concerned about...The part [of her] that really wants the baby makes her...find the...books on women’s health and the female body that she’d taken from her great-aunt’s house...Women’s health was once about preventing pregnancy as much as encouraging it SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO [Throughout—Gail seduces Peter and Don to get pregnant] 15—When I still hadn’t become pregnant, I turned to my aunt Amy...loaned me several books on conception 294—The simple mechanics of it [getting pregnant]...were daunting 15—Our Bodies, Ourselves 101—Aunt Amy...educating teenagers about birth control. 158—Amy’s clinic had expanded from promoting birth control among teens
230—Pills to stimulate ovulation...She starts with Clomid…she’s not gotten pregnant by accident nearly as much as most girls seemed to STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO Throughout— [Gail has hard time getting pregnant] 177—to put me on Clomid or one of the other hormone stimulators 159—“So I got pregnant,” she said, matter-of-factly. “Accidentally on purpose” 207— “I heard she got pregnant on purpose...Accidentally on purpose.”
231—As the days pass she feels more and more confident that she is doing the right thing, even though the pills make her nauseous…It’s been weeks since she left the shack in daylight. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 291—Was I doing the wrong thing for the right reasons? They certainly felt right. Or was I doing the right thing for the wrong reasons? 358—my nausea 152—Inside the shed it was always night. Sometimes, after being holed up there for days on end I lost all track of time.
234—They could have had the baby together. But then it would have been Mr. Todd’s baby, not Scott’s
baby. Mr. Todd had only been a sperm donor…This baby is Scott’s. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 322-323—If I got pregnant, I didn’t want to know who the biological father was. Sonny would be the father. After all, that was the point 208—‘sperm donor’.”
235—her little boy...Or little girl, she reminds herself, but her first thought is always boy SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 48— “Mom, when can I have a baby sister?” I asked...“Or brother,” I added hastily to show I wasn’t choosy.
240—Her hair is smooth and straight and streaked heavily with white, but that’s premature, she can’t be quite forty. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 18—Her hair had been frosted in an effort to “brighten” it, but looked instead as if she’d gone prematurely gray, and together her features made her seem older.
254—“I manage the payroll for the county.” STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 440—I took a job with the state...I started out in the accounting department.
271—The tears don’t come, though, until I get to the car, and these I feel..Later there will be anger, and fear, and bitter sadness, but now it is just relief and it aches like a sore throat. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 431—Tears streaked down my cheek...I sat there with the traffic ratcheting by on the highway 126—I wasn’t aware of a desire to punish my parents—that would come in time and when it did it was like a dam bursting 323—Tears of frustration burned my throat 372—My throat ached with an effort to control my tears.