55 pages • 1 hour read
Skin of the Sea
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Symbols & Motifs
The Sea and Rivers
Water, specifically the sea and various rivers, plays an important role throughout Skin of the Sea. As a Mami Wata, Simi transforms into her mermaid form whenever she enters a body of water, and she can sense water nearby. The sea is the Mami Wata’s most natural place. Simi feels at home in the water, specifically the sea, and while she’s in the water, her thoughts are calmer and more in the moment. The water also takes Simi’s memories of her life before becoming a Mami Wata. In human form on land, Simi can recall her past life, suggesting that water holds cleansing power—it washes or cleans away the past to make room for the present. Yemoja is the orisa of water in general, and Olokun is the orisa of the deepest part of the sea, which shows how the large and complex nature of the sea requires multiple orisas to represent it.
While Simi feels most at home in the sea, rivers offer a less comfortable experience. She feels better in rivers than on land, but there is something less encompassing about rivers than the sea. The vastness of the sea may mean that the influence of all the lands it touches gets lost in the water. By contrast, rivers are smaller and wind through a specific route, which opens them to a stronger influence from the lands they travel. For a Mami Wata used to the unrestrained nature of the sea, rivers may feel restrictive and too connected to a single place.
Ships and Boats
Simi, Kola, and their companions travel on several ships and boats throughout the book. Simi and Kola were both captured by slave traders and imprisoned aboard ships. Simi fought her way to freedom, but how Kola came to be tossed from his ship is never made clear. It may be that he escaped during the storm's chaos and chose to jump out of desperation to get home, or he was dragged on deck to help stabilize the ship during the storm and was thrown into the water. The ship in Chapters 9 and 10 represents how people are willing to fight for freedom. Under many circumstances, stealing a ship as the captain did may be viewed as wrong, but in his situation—stealing a ship to rescue those who were forcibly taken—the theft feels justified.
Much of the character development occurs aboard ships. When Simi and Kola first leave Yemoja’s island, they are crammed in a small boat, and their proximity forces them to begin opening up to one another. This closeness starts the attraction that grows between them for the rest of the story. Later, Simi, Kola, and the rest of their group take a boat to Esu’s island. The group first learns of Simi’s Mami Wata nature during this voyage, which becomes an opportunity for them to grow closer. Simi bonds with Yinka and determines that Ifedayo makes her uncomfortable, foreshadowing the possible discovery that Yinka is supernatural like Simi and the revelation that Ifedayo is Esu.
Stories
Stories and oral storytelling are a critical part of Yoruba culture. Stories are used to pass down myths, legends, and the past and to teach children important lessons and skills for adulthood. Simi’s mother was a storyteller, which foreshadows Simi working her way through Esu’s story on the bridge outside the orisa’s palace. Stories are also used throughout the narrative to prepare the group to face Esu, such as the tale of the nomads in Chapter 20. In particular, this story illustrates the danger of Esu’s trickster nature while offering a glimpse at how to appease the orisa, information Simi later uses to defeat him.
As a complete work, Skin of the Sea relies on the stories of Yoruba myth—its orisas and mythical creatures. The various orisas present in the novel have at least one (often multiple) origin stories, and Bowen chose one on which to build Simi’s world. In myth, Yemoja is depicted as a Black woman with the tail of a fish, and it is said that she gave birth to all the waters of the world. In Skin of the Sea, Bowen keeps Yemoja’s appearance in the water but allows the orisa to transform into a human on land. Bowen’s Yemoja is the orisa of the sea, but Simi’s discomfort with rivers suggests that Yemoja does not have as much dominion over smaller bodies of water. Bowen adapted the stories and myths to fit her story world, showing how stories evolve and grow to fit new narratives.
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