Vida, by Patricia Engel, is a story that deals with, among other things, ideas of agency, responsibility to oneself, and responsibility to others. Although the story is told through Sabina's eyes, the drive of the story comes from a desire to learn as much as possible about Vida. And when Sabina learns about Vida, she discovers that she is actually made up of two people: the person who was in Colombia and the person who is in Miami. I argue that the ocean represents the divide between these two parts of her life: sometimes it is an uncrossable boundary, and other times it is fluid, allowing Vida to access parts of her past. Like the tides on a shore, the ocean periodically pulls Vida in opposite directions throughout the story. It physically separates her from her life in Colombia but also connects her to the freedom of childhood. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The most obvious reading of the ocean in Vida is as a symbol of separation. Both Vida's arrival and return from Colombia are marked by images of the ocean. In the first paragraph of the story Sabina, the narrator, tells what she knows about Vida: “In Colombia she was never called anything other than her given name, [Davida,] but here Vida stayed, which she said suited her because that plane trip over the Caribbean broke her life in two” (119). The image of Vida's life split in two does not just refer to the physical separation of life in Colombia from her life in Miami. I read her change from Davida to Vida as evidence that during this split it is not only her surroundings that change, but also her internal world. The transition from Davida to Vida is a beautiful play on words. The image of breaking life in two is directly parallel to the act of breaking his name, which means life, in two. Both the plane ride and the Caribbean itself are held responsible for this rupture, as if the water created both a physical and emotional boundary between his two lives. This symbolism returns at the end of the story during Vida's return to Colombia. Describing the process of helping Vida, Sabina expresses her fear that if anything were to stop Vida from returning to Colombia, it would be the ocean. “I insisted to Papi that he book her a direct flight, without a stop in Miami. I worried that the sight of the ocean might throw her off course. It happens to even the best of us,” she says (144). Sabina worries that just seeing the ocean might make the separation between here and there insurmountable for Vida. This time, the ocean isn't formidable because of the physical boundary it creates, but for some emotional or mystical power it seems to hold over Vida. The power it holds over her is complex, but it seems to be rooted in joy. During a scene about Vida's many nuanced smiles, Sabina describes the rare and truly joyful smiles, saying. : “sometimes a dawn would break her face and she would smile as if it would save her life. Like on the beach or when she talked about her family” (131). be the only thing, apart from talking about her family, that gives her true happiness. The ocean and Vida's life in Colombia are somehow connected. Perhaps it is because it is in the ocean that Vida tastes the freedom that she does not he has had since he left his home and his childhood. Not often in the story does Vida get to make choices for herself. She is first described as attached to Sacha, then, as Sabina explores her past, Vida describes the choices made for her by her mother, then by Fito, then finally by her captors who kept tabs on her in the brothel. But when Vida has free will in the story, she often chooses to go to the beach. The first time Vida and Sabinathey spend time alone together, Sabina expects to go out for dinner or drinks, but "Vida just wanted to go to the beach." , She also started begging me to take her there like I was her mother or something... [she] took off her sandals and ran towards the water, got in knee-deep and splashed in the foam. I sat on the sand and watched her lose herself, shouting things to the clouds,” (123). The first notable thing about this passage is the urgency of Vida's tone when she asks to go to the beach. Right in the paragraph before her described as tidy and reserved, she “almost looks like a private school student who got lost in the wrong neighborhood” (123), but becomes impatient and childish when she asks about the beach, “begging [Sabina] to take her there was her mother. This return to childlike nature is different from Vida who, elsewhere in the story, makes Sabina feel like the younger of the two despite being years younger. Once at the beach, Vida runs with abandon through the water and sand as if she were a child "She loses herself" and forgets Sabina: everything she does there is for herself. This return to childhood habits suggests that there is a link between the ocean and Vida's old life. Despite the fact that there is no ocean in Bógota, it stands to reason that the ocean could connect Vida to its past. The ocean is immense: it is open for miles and miles. Vida states that, even after living in Miami for two years, she “still could not grasp the immensity of the ocean,” (124). Perhaps the contrast of this expansiveness to the physical confines of her room in the brothel and the emotional confines of her life with Sacha connects Vida to a sense of freedom when she is near the ocean, she has freedom: she can use her body however she wants, she can be loud and she can feel joy. Given that these are all childhood experiences before prostitution and before Sacha, it is not surprising that the ocean is somehow connected to his past. This connection with the past returns in his relationship with the clouds on the beach. While "getting lost" Vida starts "shouting things at the clouds". While these cries might simply be a celebratory statement, there is something about them that evokes images of ritual or bargaining with a higher power. It's almost as if she could scream at the heavens, cursing fate for the fate she was given. These images return again in Sabina and Vida's next trip to the beach. Sabina describes the two of them "lying on towels in [their] bikinis...[Vida] ​​stared at the sky as if she could see her whole story projected in the clouds like a movie screen" (132). While this is Sabina's description, not Vida's, it once again brings up the idea that Vida can access her past through the ocean and the sky above it. This is why he wants to come back again and again. All of this is complicated in the moments when Sacha and the ocean collide. First, there's the night when Vida, Sabina, Sacha and her boyfriend take a bottle of wine to the beach. "Normally, Vida loved the beach, but with Sacha and the boy there she seemed indifferent. [Sacha] blew her a kiss and she looked back under a veil that looked a lot like contempt," (137). In this moment, it is as if Sacha's presence nullifies the power of the ocean. Perhaps when she is there Vida is reminded that she does not, in fact, have free will and that the freedoms the ocean offers are only a distraction from the truly limited nature of Sacha life. The juxtaposition of the ocean with the boundaries that limit Vida's life in Miami returns when she describes her first encounter with the ocean. She says that, after a particularly severe beating at the brothel, Sacha put her on his bicycle and rode "He took me into the water. At first it hurt, but then I opened my eyes and I.