The voice of the sea in The sea house by Esther Freud

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Angelika Манка

Taganrog State Pedagogical Institute

The Voice of the Sea in The Sea House by Esther Freud

The Sea House pictures a beautiful mosaic of a small English seaside village in Suffolk; a place that affects people from different generations in unexpected and life-changing ways. It is the story of two generations interlinked in the footprints, art, architecture, love and memory; of the nature and the landscape which shape lives and destinies. The two main plots are set 50 years apart in time. One is the story, set in the fifties, of a refugee architect, Klaus Lehmann, and his wife, Elsa, the other is the story of Lily, a student of architectural history, who is studying the life and artistic work of Klaus Lehmann and her relationship with London architect, Nick.

Many different symbols are employed in ‘The Sea House’ to illustrate its main themes and internal conflict of the characters in different timelines. One constant and re-emerging symbol is the sea. Throughout the novel, Esther Freud looks at depictions of the sea in several manifestations - as an avenue of escape, a symbol of power, a new life, change, rebirth, escape or "a metaphor” for tragedy, disaster, loneliness, departure and death, showing the great role the sea plays in the course of the story. The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting and calling the soul to wander for a spell and contemplation. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enveloping the body in its embrace: “...she (Lily) closed her eyes and listened for the sea. It wasn't roaring now. She could hear it, gently murmuring, smooth and lapping, like the long drone of a bee. ... the distant humming of the waves, forced her into daze. ”

In the novel, the sea symbolizes Lily's "awakening" to life filled with freedom and independence. “The sea was rolling just behind the skyline, calling her, magnetic in its roar. The closer she got the more it drew her until, as she raced and struggled up the last bank, her heart was knocking at her chest. And there it was. Vast and blue and breathless, stretching to the edges of the world. ” ■

On the first day of her arrival Lily went to explore the sea. Although she does not wish to go bathing, something inside is compelling her to go down to the water. It is there in the seductive sea that Lily's awakening begins. “The water clasped her foot and froze it, stabbing knives into the bone. She tried again, testing for pockets of warm sea.... ”

That sea environment is in direct contrast to the grey routines of the cold, noisy city. “Its beauty caught her every time. The unexpected flatness of it as you came over that last hill. It stretched your eyes, relaxed the muscles of your heart, forced you every time to stop. ” The beauty and mightiness of the countryside with its magnetic sea casts a spell on Lily. The strength of the sea is shown through its effect on people which is achieved by the description of its volume, deepness (shallow, wide, spacious, flat), sound (crash, roll, roar, humming, wave after wave of sound), colour (a deep blue stripe of sea, grey bank of water, copper, a sheet of silver), temperature (cold, freezing, warm, arctic water, refreshing, ice) and speed (rush in, lapping high, shortening the shore). “The tide was coming in, shortening the shore, r lapping high and calm at a thread of shingle on the sand. ”             '

The attitude of the inhabitants to the sea is different: they adore and worship it, fear and awe its infinity. The sea is like a human being with its character, mood and habits. “They could hear the sea behind them, rolling in above their heads. From behind the house, across the green and up and above the sand dunes came the crashing of the sea. ”

The sea in the novel represents a departure from a previous life and an entrance to a new one. The trip down the sea gives Max time to Hunk about his future life with Elsa, even though he is uncertain if there will ever be a future between them. When the storm caught Max and I Usa in the Sea House in the middle of the sea, water is used as a sign of sadness as to give one of the characters the state of being afraid, representing a psychological state in which Max hopes to start a whole new life: “If the tide could only turn, take the house with it, drift tern to a hidden slice of land. Take them to Holland, Belgium, take them to Australia, where they could start the second half of the century in peace."

A second role that sea plays in the novel is to reflect death. On a stormy rainy day when the weather is scary, the sea is interpreted as an omen of disaster. The author foreshadows through this how the water elements symbolically impede and end people's relationship. By using the image of the sea as a metaphor, Freud underscores the fact that man floats in his life on a series of waves which bring him closer to his destiny. The sea in various scenes of the novel symbolizes a form of convergence that results in dramatic events. The description of the sea evokes the mood of sadness in the reader, bringing home to the reader the air of melanch. This stylistic device is employed by the author to create the atmosphere of inevitability. One cannot hide from the sea. Water is everywhere: it is on the ground, it is pouring from the heavens as though the nature weeps for something. “Max. and Elsa sprang back from the hole. ‘God in heaven, ’ she said, and she ran to the window. They were in the middle of the sea. Water spread away from them on every side....Elsa and Max ran to the far window and looked behind them at the sea. It was coming in, wave after wave, submerging the dunes, pouring into the marshes ....There was nothing between them and dry land, just water, in a huge dark sweep. ”

The sea is present during the whole narration. It is the silent witness of the running love drama between Max and Elsa. The water elements are given the primary place in the novel. People fight through sea and try to survive in the storm. The description of the sea adds shades of colour to the portraying of the main characters, influences their mood and feelings, brings happiness or sorrows to their lives, distracts or worries, soothes or frightens. It may be crucial -- crush lives, hopes and can be considered as an omen of fate predicting future events. “Before them was the sea. A high grey bank of water, so wide and spacious it rolled round on three sides to meet the sky. She (Lily) had to stop and marvel at it, acknowledge the effect it had on the muscles of her eyes, and she wondered if you would ever get used to seeing to the horizon, after spending a lifetime of having your vision cut short. ’’

Esther Freud’s detailed description of water elements gives a deep psychological insight into human nature. The sea is the background of the events as people’s emotions are shown through it and the inner psychological and emotional state are mingled with this water element or opposed to it.