symbolism sea of flames

[grace]

The sea of flames plays a big role in the book.  The sea of flames legends say it is cursed and brings misfortune to the beholder, but the stone also according to the legend provides immortality.  What do you think the sea of flames symbolizes in the novel during this time period?

[Annie Potter]

I think the Sea of Flames symbolizes fear. Even though the stone provides immortality it's the fact that your loved ones are in danger at all times when you're in possession of it. However, I also believe that the symbolism of the Sea of Flames really just depends on who has it and what they believe in. Whether or not bringing misfortune with them frightens them or not can depict the symbolic meaning of the stone.

[millaberemski]

I think the Sea of Flames symbolizes sacrifice. According to the legend, to gain immortality, your loved ones are put in immediate danger. Every stone holder has to make the decision of whether or not they want to sacrifice someone's life in order to live forever. Whether a person is willing to sacrifice someone they love for their own immortality or not can show the symbolic meaning of the Sea of Flames.

[benjaminconnor]

The Sea of Flames seemed to symbolize the power people give to objects or ideas just by believing in them. "He will be saved. He simply has to drag himself up from this bed and keep looking. Do it more methodically. As many hours as it takes. Tear the place apart. Begin in the kitchen. One more time" (Doerr 383). The stone could have no magical property whatsoever, but that doesn't really matter. What matters is that people believed it did. Von Rumpel is diagnosed with cancer, and given only a few months to live, yet he chose to spend those months searching for a stone that could very well be just that: a stone. He persists in hunting for the stone even when his cancer has progressed so far he can barely walk. He never loses hope, always believing that the stone will save him. Doerr used The Sea of Flames to illustrate to the reader that our belief is what gives things power over us.

[roselyn]

The Sea of Flames symbolizes the survivors of the war. During that time period life was brutal and living to see the end of the war seemed like eternity. So for someone like Marie-Laure to live long after the war has ended, in the eyes of the people in the war, that was like immortality. But all things have a cost. The cost of living through the war was their loved ones. Many if not all of the survivors of the war came out deeply traumatized. They've seem so much horror and lost so many of their loved ones, it is like a curse.

[anthonywang]

I believe the Sea of Flames symbolizes the two sides of Doerr’s story: the chaos and meaningless of existence versus fate, beauty, and science (all things that imply a kind of order or meaning in life). One could argue that the crossed paths of Marie-Laure LeBlanc and Werner Pfennig represent nothing but a coincidence (“just a random piece of carbon”), but it could also be said that Marie-Laure and Werner were destined to meet in the end, proving the existence of fate (a magical diamond). Wisely, Doerr doesn’t really argue for one point of view or the other: the diamond is both ordinary and extraordinary, meaningless and meaningful, just as the plot of the book seems dictated by the laws of chance as well as the laws of fate. In addition, the sea of flames symbolized something different for Sergeant Major Reinhold von Rumpel. According to legend, the diamond granted the owner eternal life but harmed the loved ones of the owner. Hope is a symbol found in the diamond because Von Rumpel is diagnosed with terminal cancer and is desperate to find a cure. He never loses hope in the stone, even when his cancer has progressed so far that he can barely move. He keeps his hope and believes that when he finds the stone, it will cure him. The Sea of Flames diamond holds different meanings towards different people. However, one fact is that it is an object that drives the plot forward for the simple reason that many characters want it. For example, Sergeant Major Reinhold von Rumpel tracks the diamond all the way to Saint-Malo, and he seems willing to kill anyone who stands in his way. There would thus be no climax in the novel without the diamond—no story arc. And yet Doerr suggests that the Sea of Flames is, at the end of the day, an utterly banal thing—just a random piece of carbon that happens to have cooled and crystallized in a particularly pretty way.

[keelylipp]

I think that the Sea of Flames symbolizes blame. During the time of the war, people are looking for things to blame for the ongoing crisis. When the misfortune comes to the town of Paris, and Marie-Laure and her father are forced to flee, her father looks to the jewel, that may or may not be fake, to blame for the issue. When he then gets arrested after being called back to Paris, with the diamond, once again he looks to it and wonder whether or not Marie-Laure and Madame Manec and Etienne are safe and alive.