The Covenant of Water Literary Elements

Magical Realism, Historical Fiction, Family Drama

Kerala, India, between 1900 and 1977

The narrative is told from the third-person omniscient perspective, with the point of view shifting throughout. The primary characters through whom the point of view is focalized are Big Ammachi, Digby, Philipose, and Mariamma.

The novel combines clinical, medical imagery with a mystical, romanticized tone. The mood is fable-like and dreamy, conveying traumatic and painful events with meandering, poetic language.

The main protagonists are Big Ammachi and Mariamma, and the main antagonist is the Condition, an abstract disease and generational curse that causes drowning and interpersonal turmoil.

The major conflict is how characters attempt to avoid or cure the Condition, the generational curse that shapes their lives. The Condition's impacts and symptoms are far-reaching, including reduced hearing, eccentric personalities, aversion to water, and swelling in the brain. The Parambil family feels helpless in the face of this curse and its members attempt to mitigate its effects and eventually cure it.

The sprawling novel reaches its climax when Mariamma, reading her father's journals, discovers that Philipose is not her biological father, shattering her understanding of her identity and her connection to her family.

Celeste warns Digby not to expect too much of the person who will become his mate. This foreshadows several romantic tribulations throughout the text. Digby hopes and assumes that Celeste will leave her husband to be with him, though she rejects him to develop her identity before her tragic death. Celeste's warning also rings true for Philipose and Elsie, as Elsie expects Philipose to support her artwork, only for him to disappoint and hinder her. Likewise, Mariamma hopes Lenin will live an "ordinary" life with her, but his impulsive nature and strong moral compass lead him to join the Naxalites, which results in his imprisonment.

Big Ammachi asks Philipose never to go into the water alone. This foreshadows Philipose's drowning, as he attempts to rescue a drowning child with no assistance. This tragedy is the first and last time Philipose broke his promise to Big Ammachi.

To help Digby regain motor function, she binds their hands together using ribbon, allowing them to draw an emotionally healing portrait of Digby's mother. In Scotland, Digby's home of origin, "handfasting" is a traditional component of marriage ceremonies, where the couple symbolically ties their hands together. Thus, Elsie tying their hand together foreshadows her and Digby's future love and romance, which continues throughout Elsie's battle with leprosy.

When Philipose returns to Parambil after helping save the boatman's son's life, he reflects that "one leaves home at one's own peril." This statement, coupled with Philipose's overwhelming feeling of safety at returning home, foreshadows his failure in Madras and his tragic death traveling by train.

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Religious Allusions:

The Book of Job - Big Ammachi references the Book of Job, an Old Testament story about a man whose faith is tested by God through suffering. Big Ammachi feels her Christian faith wane as her family experiences tragedy after tragedy.
Ask and Embla - the first man and woman as depicted in Norse creation myths.
The Vedas (a sacred Hindu text comprised of hymns and poem), the Ramayana (a sacred Hindu text recounting the epic tale of Rama, the seventh avatar of the god Vishnu) and the Bhagavad Gita (a revered text recounting a dialogue between prince Arjuna and Krishna that inspires readers to embody holy virtues).These classic Hindu stories are referenced to highlight Philipose's interest in classic Western literature.
Lakshmi - the Hindu goddess of wealth, fortune, beauty, and fertility, to whom Lizzi is frequently compared.
The Balm of Gilead - a medicinal perfume, considered a panacea and referenced in the Hebrew Bible. Philipose considers physical affection the Balm of Gilead when he attempts to reconnect with Elsie after their separation.
Durga - a Hindu goddess associated with motherhood, destruction, and strength. Philipose compares Elsie to Durga when she returns to Parambil, pregnant and hardened by Ninan's death.

Literary Allusions:

Moby Dick - a 19th-century novel by Herman Melville about a sailor's obsessive, and ultimately destructive, pursuit of a whale. Philipose reads this novel to his family members each night.
Great Expectations - a 19th-century novel by Charles Dickens about the education and trials of an orphaned boy. Philipose quotes Great Expectations to Elsie, beginning their romance.
Zorro - a fictional, masked vigilante who defends vulnerable people, such as the Indigenous people of California, from unjust authorities. Rune compares the scar he leaves on Digby's hand to the "mark of Zorro."
Gray's Anatomy - a seminal text describing different aspects of human anatomy, accompanied by vivid illustrations. Digby gives Elsie his treasured copy of Gray's Anatomy, which Elsie gives to Philipose, who passes it down to Mariamma.
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling - a comic novel by Henry Fielding. Elsie comments on Philipose reading the racy novel, in which a woman gives up an infant without revealing the father and a couple's marriage dissolves, resulting in an untimely death. This plot element alludes to Elsie and Philipose's relationship, and Mariamma's paternity.
Hamlet - one of William Shakespeare's most famous and revered plays. Throughout the text, Ophelia's drowning, a pivotal moment in Hamlet, is referenced in relation to the Condition.
Odysseus - the key figure in Homer's epic poem The Odyssey. As Philipose tries to connect with the outside world with his radio, he compares himself to Odysseus, sailing around the Mediterranean on a long quest.
The Brothers Karamazov - a 19th-century Russian novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Philipose considers the classic novel "his bible," highlighting the text's examination of morality and literary value.
Oliver Twist - a novel by Charles Dickens that follows an orphaned boy who struggles to find support and belonging in Victorian England. As a child, Mariamma reads the book with Philipose and draws comparisons between the titular Oliver and Lenin.

Digby's upbringing in Glasgow is described using industrial, grimy imagery. Digby attends a smoky-filled, raunchy variety show, marvels at the Singer clock near the factory buildings, and lives in a cramped apartment so cold he has to wear his hat and gloves indoors. This imagery expresses the different types of poverty and oppression the characters encounter and explores the emotional consequences of being separated from the natural world.

Throughout the novel, characters emphasize the importance of blood relations; for example, Big Appachen gives parcels of land to his blood relatives, however distant, and Big Ammachi fixates on curing the Condition, a genetically inherited disease. However, the Parambil family expands and changes to include non-relatives like Shamuel and Joppan, and Mariamma, who ultimately discovers the cause of the Condition, is not related to the family.

Big Ammachi selects Philipose's name because it recalls the "flowing water" of Galilee, and thus holds symbolic and religious significance for her. However, Philipose becomes an atheist and rejects Christianity despite his biblical name. He also dies by drowning after avoiding water his entire life.

Mariamma and Big Ammachi's life goals and healing abilities are presented in parallel, highlighting the importance of opportunity and education. The two women share a name and assume authoritative, proactive roles in their families, changing Parambil for the better. Big Ammachi's father wanted her to study and marry as an adult, but fate intervenes, and Big Ammachi does not attend school, though she demonstrates remarkable healing talents throughout her life. Mariamma, by contrast, is educated and rejects Lenin's proposal of marriage.

Digby and Elsie both draw portraits of their future lovers sleeping; Digby draws Celeste asleep on the beach, and Elsie draws Philipose asleep on the train. Both Celeste and Philipose die tragically as an indirect result of loving their partner; Celeste perishes in a fire after sleeping with Digby a final time, and Philipose's train plummets into the water as he searches for Elsie to make amends.

Metonymy - Philipose and his family members refer to the opium he uses as "black pearls," a euphemistic reference to the shape and color of the drug.

At various points throughout the text, water is personified. For example, as Rune watches the ocean before his spiritual awakening, the waves are described using active language, as they "celebrate their long voyage with a final splash on the rocks."

When Digby acclimates to Madras, he learns of the "Madras evening breeze," a famous phenomenon that refreshes the entire city. The breeze is personified as having a "body to it" and agency, as it "strokes and cools the skin," "pushes through on a broad front, up and down the coast," "unhurried and reliable." To emphasize how universally impactful the breeze is, the narrator notes that it "doesn't know caste or privilege as it soothes" the city's diverse populations.