Science and Research

On one level, science and research represent, throughout the narrative, both opportunities for knowledge and, when those opportunities are selfishly exploited, opportunities for destruction. On another, and more personal level, science and research represent, primarily for Perina and Kubodera, opportunities for self-denial and self-delusion - specifically, of the fact that they are both essentially self-serving and, frankly, somewhat monstrous.

Water

Throughout the narrative, and in various forms, water represents possibility and opportunity. In the book's prologue, a reference to "sea time" refers quite directly to the openness of the sea as a metaphor for freely experiencing life as it comes. Early in the narrative, a slow-moving creek that occasionally erupts into stormy overflowing represents and foreshadows Perina's movement from a slow-moving rural life into the stormy life of a successful research scientist. Also early in the narrative, a moment on the open ocean provides...