The Sea

It's something I know I've always taken for granted. Well, maybe not for granted, but i don't appreciate it the way i should. In Gloucester, it's a part of life. From making a living on the water to dangling our feet off the boulevard, we're all touched in some way by the sea. The ocean has always been there, enticing, mysterious and comforting. Throughout time, it's had a magical quality. It's the great, roiling unknown. It kept mankind confined to the shore for hundreds of years, until it became the greatest adventure one could embark upon. Once we conquered crossing the sea, we realized we still didn't know what lay in the secret depths of the body that takes up most of the space on our planet. Fear, romance, camaraderie, heroics, adventure--all the parts that make up a good nautical story. But why choose the ocean? It can't support life. Humans can't live in the sea. They can't control it, they can't shape it to meet their needs like they can with land and resources. It's pretty much an all-around bad place to be for such feeble folk. But for some reason, we can't stay away.

So if the sea is so powerful, where does that leave us? Are we just mindless creatures drawn to the pounding waves, the way insects are drawn to shining lights? It's so inviting, we ignore the danger. We can't help ourselves. But when we get there, things aren't so simple, because we aren't mindless. The sea draws different people for different reasons. Some seek confrontation, others seek healing, but we all somehow find a way to see what we want in that great expanse of water.

But perhaps it would be more astute to investigate what the sea wants with us. If we considered the sea as a character, or even just as a foil, used to show us what we should find in ourselves, we might begin to understand it. This is what I will investigate through several literary works. My mission is to discover how authors use the sea to help characters understand themselves, and for readers to understand the characters. And perhaps, along the way, I'll learn more about what the sea means for me as well.