Marina consists of a story within a story. The essay begins with Cofer’s narration of her own life, changes into narration of her mother’s story, and ends by switching back into her present day narration. Through this changing use of narration, Cofer is able to present both stories in an intriguing way, and connect them together in a manner that is not only interesting, but relevant to the reader as well. An interesting facet of Cofer’s essay is how she feels no need to inform the reader of her interpretation. Most essays end with a conclusion detailing the author’s findings, exploring their new discovery, and (most often) trying to persuade the reader to agree with their idea, point of view, etc.. In contrast, Cofer is happy to simply present