53 pages • 1-hour read
In the Veins of the Drowning
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Symbols & Motifs
The Isle of Seraf
The isle of Seraf symbolizes Imogen’s habitual complacency, passivity, and lack of responsibility. Seraf is first introduced as looking “like a beastly jaw protruding from the waters of Leucosia. It was all jagged peaks and ravenous valleys” (5) where King Nemea builds Fort Linum upon its highest summit. The ghastly vision depicted of the isle represents the lifestyle Imogen has become accustomed to under King Nemea’s cruel rule. While the isle is already remote and not easily inhabitable, Fort Linum—Imogen’s home—is even more remote and inaccessible to visitors arriving by sea. She resides so far up that the call of the sea is hardly present.
Imogen’s favorite spot at Fort Linum is “the [battlement] with the grandest view of the sea,” which represents her yearning for it even while she takes no action to visit it (5). She further describes it as “endless,” which makes her feel “immeasurably small.” This alludes to her desires to explore the wide-open world but also her fear in taking that leap.
When Theo first sees the view from the battlement, he theorizes “the only reason anyone would reside this high up—this far from the rest of the world—is because they either have something to fear or something to hide” (8). This theory makes Imogen feel stripped bare and brings offended tears to her eyes, even as she knows he is correct in his assumptions. His criticisms are directed at Nemea, but once he learns who Imogen is and Nemea’s control over her life, it then becomes directed at her.
The Sea
The sea is a motif for The Corrupting Pursuit of Power. While there is nothing wrong with Sirens drawing power from the sea in moderation, it is when they turn into creatures like Eusia and the nekgya that the power becomes corrupting. Due to her connection to both Siren-kind and the nekgya, Imogen straddles this fine line throughout the novel.
Imogen has her first experience with the sea when Evander attends their engagement feast with “salt spray coat[ing] his armor, his skin,” and “an intoxicating heat roll[s] through [Imogen’s] body, like a wave ravenously lapping the shore” (21). A desire for the sea is an innate part of her being, but the “ravenous” and “intoxicating” effect of the barest amount of sea water alludes to Imogen’s inability to control this desire after a lifetime of avoiding it. When Evander kisses her and the salt touches her lips, Imogen notes it “felt like blood, hot and pulsing” (25), further alluding to the hidden dangers lurking should she lose control.
When Imogen regards the sea from Theo’s ship, she is “awed, and wondered if [she] should love it, or if [she] should fear it. If [she] should see something of [her]self in its changeability, in its ceaselessness, churning want. In how [she] could never truly know what lurked in its depths” (109). This interpretation of the sea from Imogen’s perspective reveals how deeply she wants freedom and agency in her life, and how the desire for this sort of power could either allow her to blossom or corrupt her.
Engagement Ring
Imogen’s engagement ring from Evander, “a rare and expensive shackle” (12), symbolizes the metaphorical shackles she’s lived her life in. At the start of the novel, she accepts her gilded prison. She believes herself stuck “but more importantly […] safe” at Fort Linum where she “could live dulled and peaceful” (12). However, the spinel stone in the ring is “the deep gray of the sea in a storm” (12). This depiction resembles the internal turmoil Imogen battles with every day—bowing to the demands of those around her and suppressing her very nature as a Siren.
While she isn’t aware of the ring’s origins until the end of the novel, she does know that the particular stone can only be mined from the northern continent of Obelia and is far more expensive than any captain can afford. Therefore, she assumes Evander must have been gifted it by Nemea for the purpose of their engagement. Her understanding of this early on foreshadows the eventual discovery of its origin when the Empress of Obelia shares that the Nel family was native to Obelia. They were slaughtered 25 years ago at a remembrance for Empress Nivala’s late husband, their jewels stripped from their bodies—including a ring with a spinel stone. The grotesque way in which they died, “sliced open from their necks to their groins” (254), resembles the same way in which victims for Eusia are sacrificed. The ring symbolizes Imogen’s connection to Eusia, which is another shackle in itself.
After finally finding a semblance of freedom in Varya, Imogen believes the severance of her blood bond with Theo is imminent, and she offers to repay him with the engagement ring so as not to be in his debt. When he refuses, she explains that “[her] care has always been dependent upon what [she] could provide in exchange for it. It was that way with Nemea, with Evander. With [Theo]” (137). She goes on to explain that Agatha is the only person who has ever genuinely cared for her without expecting anything in return. Theo’s continued refusal to take the ring and his assertion that this is “the end of transactions” between them negates any value the ring formerly held (137). Therefore, it symbolizes Imogen’s true freedom. She is no longer metaphorically shackled in life or bound by the whims of others.
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