The Sirens is a story of transformations, and all three of the female protagonists, Lucy, Jess, and Mary, engage in a similar journey of discovering the truth of their own natures. Their skin condition is initially translated as a difference that separates them from their peers and creates a special vulnerability, but it becomes a powerful metaphor for the expression of the essential self. Far from being a disability, their difference allows them to survive in water, an element that is at once necessary to human survival and dangerous. All three women come to acknowledge and make use of this special inheritance throughout the novel, and in doing so, discover their core identities.

Lucy makes the first overtures toward self-discovery when she stages what she hopes is a flattering nude photo of herself and sends it to Ben in hopes of maintaining his interest in her. Sharing this image of her unusual skin is a tender and vulnerable move. Lucy already understands her own drive to find out the truth of things, an essential part of herself and the motivation to become a journalist; however, her interactions with Ben help her to further understand her own latent rage against injustice. She will bear the full price for her actions, and he, playing the role of the victim, will pay nothing. Lucy’s movement toward maturity and accepting her full self involves letting go of her anger toward Ben while accepting the consequences of her actions. By the end of the book, she has found a new way to pursue her passion for the truth. In addition, she has come to a new understanding of her skin condition, which, rather than being something that limits her, is actually an ability that affords her extraordinary freedom.

Like Lucy, Jess gradually matures to a new understanding of herself that involves a more mature acceptance and even celebration of her skin condition. Through Cameron’s eyes, she finally sees herself as beautiful, and with this self-acceptance, she can indulge in baths and encounters with water even while keeping secret from her parents the shape she takes when she does so. With her clothing and her chosen isolation from others, Jess keeps the secret of this “real” self until she is ready to fully acknowledge it with Lucy. This growth culminates in the transformative experience of childbirth, which makes her feel as if she has entered a new stage in her life. Giving birth in the sea cave translates to a new understanding of herself as Jess accepts the pull of the site of her own birth and realizes that the skin condition she has always reviled is perfectly suited for this environment. Her new understanding of herself completes her arc of growth and maturity as she learns to not only accept but also revel in those traits that make her unique.

Mary’s story is slightly different; she has always known that her mother was a merrow, but she keeps that knowledge from herself, a forgetting that is spurred by her guilt and trauma. In her guilt that she was responsible for separating herself and Eliza from their mother, Mary has blocked memory of their mother as well as her own identity. As exposure to the sea begins to transform Eliza’s body, mirroring the changes in Mary herself, Mary slowly progresses toward a state of awareness. Her merrow form, which she feels necessary to hide from other human eyes, becomes a benefit to her when the Naiad wrecks. Mary realizes she and Eliza can breathe and move underwater, and her subsequent choice to stay in Comber Bay and become its resident siren—helping women by punishing violent men—signals the full realization of her powers and abilities. Like Lucy and Jess, Mary comes to a new understanding of herself over the course of the novel, and all three women come to a full realization of, and appreciation for, their true selves, offering a compelling exploration of self-actualization and a message of empowerment.