Free An Interpretative Response To “Saving Sourdi” Essay Sample

“Saving Sourdi” by May-Lee Chai is a story about refusal to accept harsh reality: the main character, Nea, is not willing to let her sister Sourdi go; Nea’s emotional state, on the text level, is illustrated by several cases of symbolic reinforcement. Her attitude towards Sourdi may be characterized as egoistic: she seems to behave as a dictator allowing herself to intrude into her sister’s personal life treating her as her property. She takes responsibility to make decisions for Sourdi without her consent, and the failures to realize the plans involving her sister make her exasperated. However, such an authoritative model of behavior is the result of Nea’s teenage maximalism and her true love and unquestionable devotion. For Nea, the relationship between her and Sourdi is sacred, and every person that infringes on that relationship is perceived as an enemy. Feeling that the connection between them is being ruined, that she is losing the privilege of “owning” Sourdi, Nea experiences an inner conflict since she is unwilling to accept the fact that they must part, sooner or later. The idyll is violated, and Nea suffers fear and panics. The symbols found in the short story are quite transparent – they are presented in the form of dreams and a legend which, as it is well-known, are a powerful source of subconscious human impulses. In the first dream Nea sees her sister “wrapped in the kelp, suspended just below the surface of the water” [125] which may be interpreted as some danger that Sourdi will confront. In the second one, Nea, despite her efforts, fails to read the stars that “began to blink and fade” [130]: like the previous one, this dream means that Nea’s hopes are not realistic. Finally, Nea mentions a story about a magic serpent Naga – the symbol of enormous power against evil, with which she associated herself. However, Nea admits that she has no powers – thus, she admits her defeat. We may state that even the title of the short story – “Saving Sourdi” – conveys an important message: Nea tries to rescue her sister from any danger, although she does not understand that Sourdi is mature enough to make her own decisions. Therefore, the title sounds somehow ironic.