How is water used as a symbol in the novel, Things We Lost to the Water?

Water also represents danger and fear for Hương's sons. In "Tuấn, 1979," while following Tuấn's perspective, the narrator says: "Out on the shores of Vietnam and beyond, the water had been violent, shaking anything that lay atop it" (46). Throughout the chapters devoted to Tuấn's vantage point, the narrator often identifies water as a force of remembrance, inspiring Tuấn's recollections of fleeing Vietnam for the States. In much the same, the chapters devoted to Ben's point of similarly equate water to danger and terror. In "Ben, 1992," for example, Ben refuses to swim because of his ingrained fear of water. While watching the other children play at the pool the narrator says, "Another boy hit the water and Ben imagined himself doing the same, but instead of popping up on the other side, he'd drown and die" (143). Later, in the same chapter, when Addy plays a joke on Ben in the pool, the narrator says, "He couldn't swim and he would die. He tripped and went under and in an instant everything became blue and there was no air" (151). The narrative is pervaded with such passages, thus illustrating the ways in which water represents a threat to the three main characters. The novel then closes with a chapter depicting Hurricane Katrina. When the storm strikes the city, Hương and Tuấn are terrified that the water will not only destroy their homes, but will separate them forever. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Ben is plagued by dreams of water flooding and drowning. These scenes and images grant the narrative a cyclical structure, and illuminate the novel's title. Ultimately, though the family loses their sense of home and stability to oceanic travel and natural disaster, not even the water can rob them of their love for and connection to each other.