A Menina do Mar

Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen

3 ideas

1. Boy teaches sea-girl the land's things

   A boy living in a house by the beach finds, in a rock pool, a girl small enough to fit in his hand who lives underwater with an octopus, a crab and a fish, and dances for the Queen of the Sea. She knows nothing of land, so he brings her its things one by one, including a rose, fire and wine, and each one expands and unsettles her sense of the world. Their friendship grows into a longing strong enough that the boy finally chooses to leave the land and follow her into the sea.

2. Explaining land things to the sea-girl

   When the boy brings the sea-girl things she has never met, such as a rose, fire and wine, he has to say what they are and what they do for someone with no prior acquaintance. In the book, this act of describing ordinary land things to an outsider brings their properties into view.

3. Saudade learned through attachment

   The sea-girl has no word or feeling for longing until she has a bond whose absence she can feel; saudade arrives as the cost of the friendship. Longing is not an innate mood but a consequence of attachment plus separation. Gaining a loved thing brings with it the new capacity to miss it.

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