A rede lançada às águas: a simbologia da água em O outro pé da sereia, de Mia Couto

Abstract

This study aims to analyze Mia Couto’s novel O outro pé da sereia, using the water symbology as its analysis category, based on the theoretical contributions of Eliade (1991, 1992, 2010, 2011), Frye (2014), Chevalier and Gheerbrant (2016), Bachelard (1994, 1997, 2009), and Durant (1993), among others. The analysis proposes to present a typology of the water element, linking it to two selected characters: Mwadia Malunga and Nimi Nsundi. We have observed that the symbolic shapes manifested by the water element, the river and the sea, are intrinsically connected to the characters Mwadia and Nsundi. In the analysis we have noticed that both characters maintain a relationship of similarities and differences. The similarity occurs in the presence of the water element in Mwadia’s and Nsundi’s journeys. The difference is in the behavior adopted by each one in face of events: Mwadia is the river flow’s serenity, its constancy; the submissive attitude before her husband, her mother, and those who surround her, reflects her malleability to follow the river course according to the flow. Nsundi represents the unstable and tameless sea waters; with an impetuous temper, he does not hesitate in transgressing the orders of the clergymen who conduct the voyage. He is as unpredictable as the ocean waters; at times calm, smooth, and overpowering at others. Even with these notorious differences in their behaviors, the characters are alike in their essence, since both are permeated by the same guiding element in their lives: water.