Sea Prayer

The book invites introspection about its title, Sea Prayer. Functioning as a letter to Marwan as well as a piece of poetry, the unnamed narrator uses his words as a prayer before their journey. Rather than the beginning of their struggles, the perilous journey by sea often comes at the very end of a refugee’s dangerous trek across conflict. This last prayer is especially important to Hosseini as he imagined the book and the kind of prayer he would give in the narrator’s place. The “sea prayer” title isolates this part of the experience from the earlier parts of the book.

Invoking the title of Sea Prayer, parallels are drawn between the sea and God. While the prayer is directed at the higher power of this Muslim man’s faith, it is to both the sea and God that he prays an equal number of times. This draws comparisons between the vastness of God and the sea as well as their ability to both save and destroy. Using the sea as the metonym for God highlights the qualities of God that are beyond people’s control.

The ambiguous ending reflects the bleak sense of loss that the story invokes because there is no closure. By the time the land is finally visible, the people aren’t. Contrasting a color spread with white pages, this section uses blankness to highlight the lack of answers. No explanation is given for Alan Kurdi’s death other than the reader’s own interpretation of the danger in Syria that caused him and others to try to flee to safety. Besides his age, no other details are provided. Just as Marwan is the only character named, Alan is the only person named. The book also invokes the 4,176 individuals dead or missing, connecting to its theme of Loss of Identity.

By including the dedication in the same format as the text, Hosseini links the reality of the statistics with the poetry of the story. Equating these things without misleading the audience about the fictional aspect of the illustrated pages lends authority to his work. Since no other details about Alan Kurdi’s family or journey contradict the story, the book preserves a level of authenticity and accuracy. Hosseini emphasizes the risks of this trip by focusing on the number of deaths the year after Alan Kurdi died instead of the number of deaths the same year that he died. Hosseini hence frames the final conversation around how people react to tragedy. The inability of the tragedy of Alan Kurdi’s death to prevent further deaths adds to the sense of bitterness and loss.

By not including an illustration of Alan Kurdi, Hosseini continues to use understatement and subtext to engage the reader. Just as the narrator withheld information confirming the deaths of Marwan’s mother and other family members, the ambiguous ending leans closer in tone to tragedy because there is an established pattern of misdirection. The narrator describes this as “a father’s tricks” (39). His lies of omission instill a confidence in Marwan that allows him to sleep and trust his father’s decision. However, the father and the reader are confronted by the subtext of his powerlessness.

The illustrations focus on the size of the sea in comparison to the boat, and the deep blues and greens call back to the opening of the book’s natural landscapes. These illustrations are different in many ways to the narrator’s memories of Syria. Firstly, the compositions of the sea reach all the way to the edge of the page, showing an overwhelming image of the water that is different to the rolling hills which fade gently away. Secondly, the perspective of being above the boat suggests that these are imagined events and not the perspective of someone standing nearby and watching. Placing the reader into the perspective of being above those on the boat puts them in a position of power over these characters, challenging the reader to consider what they can do during this crisis. It also invites the reference to God watching over the boat as it slips further away.

The final image of the book does return to a landscape, but this one is devoid of the details the narrator gives his memories. Using more breaks in the watercolors and refusing to outline materials causes the beach to seem unreal. The shape of the sun is not round, and the water is very different than the previous pages. The text presents an unknowable place without any arrivals, and this new place does not imply the safety that the characters on the beach wished for. Instead, it is not clear whether this place is even real or reachable. By making this beach devoid of traditional signs of life, the characters are prevented from Connecting to Home Through Nature.