Analyse af Krishan Couplands novelle 'The Sea in Me'

The short story” The Sea in Me” is written by the author Krishan Coupland, who has won several prizes for fiction. The theme of the short story is the relationship between a daughter and her mother. The main character leads a “double life” where she is the innocent, hardworking and honest girl who doesn’t have time for boys, when she is with her mother, but when she isn’t with her, she is sexually active and contains a deep connection with the Sea. She becomes “a part of” the Sea.

The narrator’s name is unidentified in the short story, but she is the daughter of a single mother (ll. 143-144). This tells us that she hasn’t seen her father in a very long time, and this might mean that she was raised without a father figure. This could have influence in her childhood and maybe even cause “fatherless daughter syndrome” which is an emotional disorder that can cause low self-esteem and trust issues.

If we look at the outer characterisation, the narrator is a talented and competitive swimmer (ll. 19-20). “Sometimes I think about telling mum I don’t want to compete anymore” (l. 93), this tells us that even though she is this “elite” swimmer who easily wins every race (l. 89) she still doesn’t find it important to compete and to train. “Sometimes I have this dream. In the dream I’m in the water swimming, and it’s the ocean” … “I’m so happy. I want to live there forever and ever” (ll. 58-59, 62). This tells us that she would much rather swim freely, which is what she is doing in her dream.