I Found You

The sea, specifically the North Sea, is the first symbol to appear in I Found You. The first line is “Alice Lake lives in a house by the sea” (3). This establishes the setting, as well as how the sea represents both home and isolation for her. She is lonely and longs for romantic companionship in the small town of Ridinghouse Bay, and the sea reflects that. It also is part of her identity: her “salty seaside mama persona” (334). Alice builds a new life here, away from her home in Brixton.

For Gray, the sea is ominous. It is a site of trauma: Mark uses it to kill Gray’s sister and father. This is foreshadowed in Jewell’s use of sea imagery. For instance, Mark leaves the Ross family “once again windswept and unsettled in his wake” (112). This metaphorical use of the sea is a clue to Mark’s violent use of the sea later. Gray also sees Mark look “out to sea for a moment before suddenly and fearsomely kicking the seawall” (129). This more directly links the sea with his violence. The last time Gray sees his sister, she “had disappeared into the North Sea with a psychopath” (260).