What the Waves Know (28 page)

A Conversation with Tamara Valentine

Q:
What the Waves Know
takes place on an island. Does this have a specific symbolism within the story?

A:
The island of Tillings is fictional, although its mainland counterpart of Tuckertown is quite real, even though I have taken liberties with the actual population and setting. There is something poetic for me about Izabella, who is struggling to find her balance in a world beyond her control, coming of age on a small swath of land surrounded by the shifting power of the ocean. And there is also the fixed reality of an island, which demands that people deal with one another since there really is nowhere to escape the realities around you.

Q:
You draw on, and incorporate, deities and mythology from multiple cultures in the story. Is there significance to the cultural references?

A:
The significance is less in the cultural reference than in the fact that each culture has a canon of stories through which they make sense of the world and craft a quasi-universal reality. Many of these myths and references overlap except in name, and yet we fight to the death to preserve our own as though everything we understand to be true is attached to them. And often it is. The references I chose to incorporate are powerful symbols of the forces that direct our lives, or throw the direction of our lives off kilter. Yemaya is a deity that captured my imagination, in particular, as she was one of the primary figures prayed to in Santeria when slaves were forced to abandon their own gods and pray to Christian saints. For me, it represents both the force of our own personal stories and a profound act of trying to steal the stories of others. In contrast, Ansel's stories are not derived from an existing canon, but become just as important to [[?doc_335   ?]]Izabella's understanding of the world—and certainly, they represent the reality playing out in his own mind.

Q:
Mental illness becomes an inescapable reality in the story, but there is little discussion about it from Izabella's perspective. Why?

A:
Izabella's father is clearly wrestling with alter-realities and a host of fictions. That is true. But, we all carry fictions with us and I don't see Ansel's as being any more, or less, acceptable. Our society often reduces a person with mental illness down to a diagnosis, and we have seen much fear and stigmatization about mental illness in recent history, as though there is a singular face of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, or any other mental illness. Among the most intense struggles for a person who loves someone with mental illness is the profound fear of having that person disappear into the illness. That is Izabella's deepest anxiety, that her father will leave her behind. She is faced with the constant decision to enter into his world, often at the risk of her own life, or make the horrific choice to let him slip away from her. It's an impossible dilemma. The other weight that she is forced to carry is the dread that she, too, might be the inheritor of the mental illness her father was ultimately struck down by. To realize that a thing is beyond your control, and that you may very well be standing in its path, is an intense position to find yourself in. At the end of the day, that is precisely what the waves know. The moon is moving the currents in the ocean, and there is not a single thing the sea can do to stop it.

Q:
Zorrie's character comes off a bit aloof and cold. Was that intentional?

A:
Although Zorrie and Izabella appear to be very different, they are actually very much alike. Izabella has withdrawn entirely inside herself in an attempt to protect her from something she fears will destroy her, and Zorrie has chilled the world out to protect herself. Even though neither character can see herself in the other, Grandma Jo does.

Q:
What role does Grandma Jo's character serve in the story?

A:
Grandma Jo is nearly devoid of anyone's story but her own, and that is intentional. Her character doesn't engage in religion, or mythology, or stigma except in the purest academic pursuit. She is intent on connecting with the moment unfolding around her at any given time and is fully self-directed and nonjudgmental. In many ways she is a true foil to both Zorrie and Izabella. Grandma Jo is also one of the manifestations of the “Triple Goddess” and a symbol of divine motherhood in her own right.

Q:
Remy talks to her dead mother and bakes pies with her ghost. Is she also mentally ill?

A:
No, Remy isn't mentally ill. Her character is unapologetically brash and gutsy, but she is also wearing the scars from the night her mother was killed
and shares many of Izabella's fears about losing the parent she has left, as well as guilt about the accident. While Izabella has largely abdicated control over her life out of fear of doing harm, Remy has gone decidedly the other direction and taken control over everything and everyone. But both are motivated by the same fear of loss.