47 pages • 1 hour read
John BanvilleA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
The Sea makes it clear that Max Morden is an unreliable narrator, and part of the novel’s interest is in exploring the issues associated with this: truth, subjectivity, perception, (mis)remembering, and the construction of identity. Max’s recollections are repeatedly proven to be mistaken and unreliable, and he constantly emphasizes the creative process involved in recollection. His first-person stream of consciousness charts sudden mood swings, contradictions, and drunken incoherence. Moreover, at times, it seems questionable whether he is even trying to be truthful. He attributes the names “Ballymore” and “Ballyless” to the town and the village in a flippant, playful manner in the opening pages, and toward the end of the book, it is revealed that “Max” is not his real name. The result is a deliberately internalized, subjective narrative, challenging the authority of narrative truth itself.
By John Banville