This week I was drawn to chapter 5 of The Deep. I think it was interesting seeing Yetu’s interaction with humans, or as she calls them, “two-legs”. I found it intriguing the way that Yetu described the humans, however considering that she is an aquatic being, it makes sense that it is an ocean-centric vision. She described their hair as “large chunks of coral” (Soloman, 71). I believe this is important to note because it fully shifts the perspective of the reader outside of their human, terracentric perspectives of the world. The next part that stood out to me was the part about a war between the wajinru and humans. The book states, “Water erupted from the sea and flowed onto the surface. A war? The ocean war? The wave war?” (Solomon, 72) I believe it alluded to a huge tsunami, but claimed that it was intentionally caused by the wajinru as an act of sabotage. I’d be curious to know more about what sparked the war between them; could it be a sustainability related topic, like pollution or overfishing? Nonetheless, I am curious and hope we find out later in the story. 

The next part that stood out to me was when Yetu thinks, “Everything would be all right now that she was free” (75, Solomon). I think this is almost funny because it sounds like a foreshadowing of the trouble on the horizon. I can’t necessarily relate to being physically freed from somewhere, but whenever I think something like that or that everything will be alright, it is usually the start of utter chaos for me. I feel like it’s one of those things you don’t say as to not jynx it, but who knows we will find out as the story unfolds. Kinda going back to the first part I mentioned her describing people in terms of the ocean is that she too views the ocean differently from above. The book states, “the vastness of the ocean looked so different from above, so much less comprehensible. […] Cut off from them, she had trouble making sense of who or what she was” (Solomon, 76). It literally goes as far as saying that her separation from the ocean has flipped her identity, which we also see her get into at the end of the chapter with her expression of what she feels her role as historian was. Another point is that she can recognize that from above the ocean can seem disinviting, and that her perspective from below looking up is an entirely different relationship with the water that most humans might have.