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Waterland Presentation. Done by: Wen Xin , Siti Hawa , Jacobbina Ng (12A1). Water will always overcome the efforts of man.
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Waterland Presentation Done by: Wen Xin, SitiHawa, Jacobbina Ng (12A1)
Water will always overcome the efforts of man. In Waterland, man is shown to attempt to reclaim land and overpower the forces of water. However, water is always shown to prevail; flooding for example overcomes dams in the novel. Likewise, in this picture, water is shown to overcome manmade structures (railway tracks). In other words, man’s efforts are always futile.
Eels’ returning to the sea represents the vicious cycle of History’s circular movement. The young of eels are given birth to in the tributaries of the sea and will always return to the sea they were spawned when they mature. This instinctual behavior is reminiscent of the circular movement of History, that History will always repeat itself.
Will-o’-Wisps usually found near the water bodies are seen as a supernatural omen that evokes a sense of foreboding, that something bad is going to happen. For example, in the book, Henry Crick supposedly saw these lights near the river, and died subsequently. People linked this phenomenon to his death which seems to give a sense that these lights are responsible for his death. This makes the river look like it harbors supernatural phenomenon that brings about tragedy, as shown in the book.
Commentary • These pictures represent how History will always never fail to repeat itself, in that water is always destroying man’s efforts to shape nature into what they want it to be. For instance, flooding causes the destruction of man-made structures. As Tom Crick says, land reclamation is ‘repeatedly, never-ending retrieving of what is lost.’ Hence this proves that man will always fall in the presence of nature’s wrath and have start to start all over again. In addition, water also seems to be a sanctuary for supernatural phenomenon, which makes people demonize the water as they believe water is linked to evil. As such, all these imply that water, in man’s perspective, is a demonic force which intentionally disrupts and ruin their efforts over and over again.
