Justice and Injustice

One of the most important themes in "Children of the Sea" is justice. From the reader's perspective, the overwhelming injustice of the narrators' situation is highlighted by the events the author chooses to recount in the story. A totalitarian dictator has made his country an unbearable place to live. People are killed for disagreeing, for speaking publicly, and for trying to protect their families. Even when the young man is forced to flee for his life on a boat, injustice prevails. His fellow passengers are so bent upon survival that for them, the only question of "justice" is whether they should throw the sick people off the boat to save themselves. The harsh conditions on the boat seem no better than the world they had left behind. The story's emotional power stems from its unrelenting portrayal of injustice that the reader understands to be more or...