Relationship between mother and daughter

The mother's controlling attitude

Your exam question asks you to focus on the relationship between mother and daughter in “The Sea in Me” written by Krishan Coupland.

At the beginning of the story, we learn that the narrator always has to train when she is at the pool with her mother: “At the pool it’s different. I can drift down to the bottom and sit until my fingers go wrinkly. Only when Mum’s not there, of course. When Mum’s there I have to train.” (ll. 6-7). This suggests that her mother believes training is very important and that the narrator cannot simply enjoy being in the water in the presence of her mother.

Throughout the story, the author underlines how deeply focused the narrator’s mother is on the narrator’s swimming career. For example, she forbids her daughter to have romantic relationships: “In secondary school she caught me kissing a boy on the field one time and she dragged me off home and yelled about how I was endangering my career.” (ll. 15-17). This reveals that the narrator’s mother was sure her daughter would have a career in competitive swimming and made her focus on it from an early age.

She also puts pressure on her daughter to train hard. To ensure that her daughter would have a successful swimming career, the mother invested much time and money in her training: “I don’t know how many thousands she has spent on pool fees and swimming lessons and competition entries for...