The Sea in Winter

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of mental illness, death, and racism.

Initially, Maisie experiences the drastic change in her life as a “loss” and feels a deep sense of grief when her leg injury forces her to abandon her dreams of being a dancer. These intense feelings of loss traumatize her and reinforce her distress, preventing her from finding new avenues of expression. At the beginning of the novel, Maisie refuses to accept her new reality and “daydreams” about returning to dancing, feeling chronically “disconnected” from herself, her family, and her community. As Maisie’s knee injury impacts her mental health and forces her to abandon her ballet classes, Day portrays the protagonist’s inner turmoil and explores the diverse factors that disrupt her well-being and sense of self. Ballet once offered Maisie a sense of peace and helped her forget her troubles and focus on being “creative and expressive” (13), but with the loss of this vital outlet, Maisie experiences an acute emotional crisis and longs for a new way to find spiritual sustenance.

Newly faced with the impossibility of becoming a ballerina, Maisie feels disconnected even from the friends who once offered her a crucial support system. Her self-imposed isolation is further exacerbated by the loss and trauma that are already inherent in her family history. Notably, the girl is impacted by the death of her father, a soldier who died in action in Afghanistan. Although he died when Maisie was very young, she still feels the lasting impact of this tragedy as her mother struggles to raise her amid the world’s many social injustices toward Indigenous people.

Thus, Maisie’s psyche and her broader sense of loss are also influenced by her mother’s fraught history. Years ago, Angie endured a forced removal from the Makah homeland due to external threats of violence that thwarted her people’s revival of their whaling tradition. Faced with this past history, Maisie finds herself overwhelmed by frustration over the “uncaring” adult world, and she has difficulty regulating her emotions. Day uses these complex dynamics to illustrate the long-lasting impact of colonialism across generations of Indigenous people. In the midst of her inner turmoil over her family’s difficulties and past history, Maisie must also overcome her own day-to-day losses, and as a result, she experiences deep feelings of isolation, hopelessness, and guilt—all of which hinder her efforts to reinvent her life.

By focusing on the details of Maisie’s unique situation, the novel emphasizes the broader importance of healing the traumas of Indigenous youth through diverse support systems, and this focus also highlights the importance of family and community. In Maisie’s case, her group of friends from her dance school have provided her with a support system, and these interactions are also central to her identity. However, when her friendships and dance training are disrupted by her injury, Maisie experiences a crisis of identity, and it is only when she discovers the joys of creative writing that she finds a way to reconnect with herself and reinvent her future.

The external world plays an important role in Maisie’s internal journey. In particular, the natural landscape proves to be a valuable source of renewal, and even as she finds new creative outlets in storytelling, she discovers a sense of solace in the natural world that is equal to the “peace” she once experienced while dancing. Day therefore conveys the idea that forging a connection with the natural world allows people to heal their personal trauma. Ultimately, Day’s multifaceted portrayal of physical and emotional healing supports the blending of Indigenous and Western forms of mental health, as Maisie manages to overcome her trauma by relying on a diverse support system that addresses her mental health challenges and promotes balance and harmony.