Sea Story - Analytical essay

The short story, ”Sea Story”, is written in 2012 by Dame Antonia Susan Duffy, better knows as A.S. Byatt. A.S. Byatt is an English writer, who mostly writes novels and poems. She has won several prizes for her work, and was on the top 50 list of the greatest British writers since 1945. She is now 79 years old and lives in Sheffield, England.

In the short story, “Sea Story”, the main character is called Harold. Harold is a poet who studies eels in the Caribbean. The story is roughly about him trying to win the love of his life, Laura. Harold has always lived close to the seas and was also born near it. His parents loved the seas and everything about it, so that is why Harold loves the sea so much. His grandfather also loved the sea, so that is where Harold’s father got his love for the sea from. Harold’s mother “wrote fierce little poems about waves and weather” (P. 1, L. 7-8). Laura, who is another character in the story, chose life on the sea. Harold chose life on land studying English, because of his mother’s interest in English literature. Both of them carries the sea in their heart, but in two different ways. That is the difference between them Laura and Harold. Harold has a big love for Laura. He sends letters and e-mails to her trying to get in touch with her, but with no luck. After trying these ways, he tries to get in touch with her by throwing a bottle in the ocean, containing one of his letters. This almost succeed as she receives it, but not as a whole letter. The sea fights Harold, and keeps him distant from Laura. First off, a mollymawk “tore at it” (P.3 L. 114), which result in the death of its chicks. Then the cap detaches, and gets swallowed by a turtle. The turtle died because it choke the cap, and after the turtle’s death, another turtle ate the cap from the remaining’s of the first turtle, and then it also died. The signet ring falls down to the bottom of the sea, where a fish eats it (P. 3, L. 113-120). This is why the letter is unreadable when it reached Laura. Laura get’s annoyed by this, because it is only trash for her, which destroys her beloved sea.

Laura was destined to be in the sea, which made Harold more watchful of the sea because he wanted Laura to be as safe as possible. When Harold and Laura first met, Harold removed his netting, to make sure Laura would not get caught up in it and drown. But ironically that is exactly what caused her death. Getting caught up in her own net and drown. After Laura’s death, Harold marries another woman and gets three kids with her, in spite of that he clearly never forgot Laura. Harold walking around on the beach picking up fragments of plastic, is a symbol of Harold’s eternal love to Laura. He wants her out of his head, but has a hard time doing that. But as mentioned before with the nature being between Laura and Harold, keeping them distant, it is fate. Fate does not want them together, which is clearly stated when she dies.

The short story uses quotations in a way to let the reader understand how Harold feels. For example, when he thinks about his mother, a quote from Masefield comes to his mind “I must go down on the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky” (P. 1, L. 19-20). Another example is when he thinks about Laura, and how he needs to get her slowly, and not rush things because he has all the time in the world. When he thinks about that, “Marvell’s lover” (P.2, L. 59), comes to his mind. This is a reference to the poem “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell. By referring to this, he says that he has the time to take things slowly, which “Marvell” did not.

Incomplete love is the main theme in the short story. In the real world, the hunt for the “perfect” man or woman is eternal and we probably never find “the one”. Someone who does not have a single flaw. If we do, it will most likely go wrong. In “Sea Story”, Laura is the perfect woman, seen from Harold’s point of view, and we already know this love does not go as planned. A second theme in the short story is pollution. When Harold sends out a bottle in the ocean, he does not think about the consequences for the nature and the environment. He simply does not care how his message will reach Laura, as long as it does. On its way in the ocean, the bottle damage stuff and kills animals. This shows us how a lot of people today, unfortunately, feel about the nature. Therefore, the story shows us how a lot of people today simply do not care enough about the nature.

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[ 1 ]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._S._Byatt