Outer Island is a short story, written by Dan Webber, about a year spent on Norfolk Island, in the South Pacific. The basic theme is one of escape. The surfing adventure creates the setting for the narrator's personal journey, which unfolds in the manner of a bildungsroman. The narrator's inner turmoil can be gleaned from his descriptions of the island, it's cultural and geologic past interwoven with the narrator's present moment explorations. The island thus serves as a metaphor for the narrator's psyche.