Characters

The most important characters in “The Sea in Me” by Krishan Coupland are an unnamed girl, who is both the main character and the narrator, and her mother and boyfriend Martin, as secondary characters. Note that the story also mentions a few collective characters, such as the boys who close the pool, the people who watch the swimming competition, the other swimmers, and the people at the beach.

The anonymous narrator is also the main character of the short story. Her anonymity adds to the mystery that surrounds her, as it is unclear whether she truly has fish-like physical traits or whether she imagines this as a way to escape her mother’s controlling behaviour. From another point of view, her character could be considered a representation of a stereotypical teenager whose state of mind begins to be affected by others’ expectations.

The narrator’s mother is a secondary character in the story. She is also an anonymous character and is not given a name or age, because her specific identity is not important. She is presented as a stereotypical controlling parent, who has unreasonable expectations of her child and pushes her to build a career from a very early age.

Martin is another secondary character in the story. Unlike the protagonist and her mother, he is given a name and a clear identity. This suggests that the usually distant narrator might feel some sort of emotional connection with him.

Read their full characterisation and our discussion about the mother and daughter relationship in the next pages!