Who is Next?

Overall I’m loving Memory of Water even if it is extremely sorrowful. The dystopian society shown is not only depressing but also heartbreaking. I hate to see the loss of hope and lives among the civilians. Noria’s mother leaving was also a fatal blow. I understand her mother wants to expand her career but her lack of sympathy or care towards her family really bugs me. Also, due to the lack of water, people are falling sick. It angers me to see people being hurt because they don’t have access to a basic human right- the right to have clean water. It angers me that the government/military is restricting and controlling water which they have no right to!

During the Moonfeast, on pgs 108-109, I can see the dwindling hope left in Sanja. “‘It’s just a story, Noria,’ she said. ‘Fishfires are colliding particles caused by the closeness of the North Pole. An electromagnetic reaction, no more exciting than a light bulb or a glow-worm. There are no dragons living in the sea, …’ ‘I know what fishfires are,’ I said. ‘And I still see the dragons. Don’t you?’ Sanja looked at the sky for a long time…’Yes,’ she said after a long silence. ‘I see them.'” This part of the section shows the development of the two characters. The fishfires are what we know as the Aurora Borealis, the northern lights. Or atleast that’s what I think they are or what Itaranta was mimicking. Here is Sanja, a hardworking girl who thinks logically. She faces hardships everyday and is not blessed on the monetary side, unlike Noria. Sanja lost her playful view of the world. She does not see the dragons in the sky but only sees the fishfires through science. Noria on the other hand still has the playful view of certain things and is lighthearted. Eventually, she does get Sanja to agree on seeing the dragons. Lightheartedness and cheerfulness is brought into Sanja’s life by her bestfriend which is nice to see among all this dread.

The quote that stood out to was when Noria saw the shadow by the tea plants on pg 110. “A dark and narrow figure stood at the edge of the rock garden, by the tea plants, and waited. My flesh and bones were stony and tight around my heart, and I couldn’t bring myself to take another step.” After we read this section, we can all figure out that this “dark and narrow figure” foreshadowed death. In this case, it foreshadowed Master Kaitio’s death which was extremely heartbreaking. The dark and narrow figure was seen before by Noria near Sanja’s house. Back in the first section, I predicted something would happen to Minja, Sanja’s younger sister. However when I read on, Minja began to recover from her illness due to the fresh spring water, thank God. We don’t need anymore deaths, thank you very much. But this makes me question the author’s intention. If Minja was getting better and Noria spotted the dark shadow besides Sanja’ house, then who will we be losing in the next section? Who will death take and turn to dust? I am worried for Noira but more for Sanja because of her stubborn idea to build that illegal waterline. But if I were in Sanja’s shoes and I saw my family dying, I would try my best to find a solution- legal or not. So I really can’t blame her for the desperate measures she wants to take. Hopefully she won’t need to build one because now she knows the about the secret spring.