A curving archipelago
The residence of sea creatures in the Indian Ocean is described using a sense of sight. The narrator says, "Just below the equator, somewhere in the Indian Ocean, is a curving archipelago almost four hundred miles long. The biggest and easterly island starts the chain, which dwindles to the west, terminating in three tiny atolls." The ocean is home to millions of animal species, including dolphins, fish, whales, and crocodiles. The imagery shows the expansiveness of the archipelago habitat within the Indian Ocean that hosts different families of dolphins.
The glow of dawn
In the "Unnatural Child", the narrator says, "The glow of dawn marked sea from the sky as the silver Longi pod streamed back from another successful night hunt." The imagery shows Ea's undying determination to shine her way to maturity. Ea is coming of age, but she does not want to follow the tradition of having sex with suitors to prove her sexuality. Instead, Ea wants to be a glowing example that a woman can attain maturity without necessarily doing sexual intercourse with her suitors.
Breathing carefully
Ea is troubled about the intention of the pod family to ignore the whale's pain. At night, the narrator describes how Ea wakes up, which depicts a sense of sight. The narrator says, "Besides her sleeping mother, Ea breathed carefully so as not to disturb her and lay at the surface fully awake, troubled by many things, new and old." The imagery shows Ea's concern about the safety of others because she would like to see everyone happy regardless of tribe. Waking up silently to think about this issue illustrates that Ea is humane and willing to do anything to help those in need.
