Balance between water and death

“Death is water’s close companion. The two cannot be separated, and neither can be separated from us, for they are what we are ultimately made of: The versatility of water and the closeness of death.” (p.5) – The author then continues to describe the beginning and end where death has both and water has neither. The image that it provokes is the ying and yang circle, where balance is most important. In essence, these two elements complete each other; I have never saw water as being both the cause of life (the beginning) and death (the end) so clearly until now. The idea of balance further contributes to the versatility of water – how water in moderate amounts brings forth life, while too much or too little of it cause the opposite.

The issue of balance permeates the entire section of the novel. People have to limit their water intake, in order not to surpass their water quota. The water scams comes with a morality issue- do you cheat people to earn money or do the right thing and not bring in as much profit.

Most important, the author has shown what happens when we lose control. The Oil Wars that was mentioned on p. 41 and 65 result in bloody battles and the eventually era of the Twilight Century where the world has ran out of oil. “The Lost Lands” that was mentioned several times is a reference to land that was destroyed by the oil and inhabitable . (Or so that that was what they were thought to believe).

But at the current present, the military is the one that is lacking their balance. Like Noria’s father had said to Commander Taro, ” You believed that everything can be owned, that your power reaches everywhere….. I will dance on your grave one day….. my spirit will do it, free from the cage of my body.”(p.70) This is resentment and vindictive and shows how the military has gone too far. Coupled with what the silver disks (CDs?) that Noria and Sanja has found, about something that the military has done and has been trying to hide (p.57), the military is at its peak, but also fulfilling its death by intruding on others and controlling things that aren’t theirs.I frankly wonder if Itaranta would potray the demise of the military within the novel.