The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi

“When watching the winds come and go and not follow them filled my soul with a blazing grief that made me take to my bed. […] And then Marjana reappeared. And if the fires did not disappear, it did fade.”

Early in the novel, Amina admits that her love of sailing, the sea, and adventure is deep. She misses it so much that she is sad, and while her daughter makes the domestic life better, The Conflicting Worlds of Domesticity and Adventure is difficult for Amina to handle. With this type of longing, it is clear that Amina will accept Salima’s proposal, and Raksh will play on this same desire and conflict as the novel progresses.

“But then Marjana was born and Asif was […] lost. And if one of these events made me feel as though I had no right to ever call upon God again, the other filled with me a driving need I could not deny. So I keep my daily prayers, even if I feel unworthy the entire time.”

This quote functions in three ways, the first being to suggest that something terrible has happened to Asif, thereby explaining some of the guilt that drives Amina to take the job for Asif’s mother. The quote also sets up an expectation that further details about his death will eventually be revealed. The third purpose that this quote serves is to express how deeply Amina feels the need for Rekindling and Strengthening One’s Faith, for the seemingly conflicting relationship she has with her religion isn’t enough for her to turn from God.

“You are an excellent judge of risk. Your problem is that you run toward it.”

Dalila’s humorous quote confirms that Amina is at war within herself on many fronts. This quote also provides a sense of Amina’s relationship with Dalila, for it is clear that Dalila deeply understands Amina and is comfortable enough with her to poke fun at what may be a sensitive topic.

“We both know your true love awaits in Aden.”

Dalila makes no secret that she’s upset at Amina for staying away for so long, and this little dig into Amina’s true priorities (her ship and her adventures) shows that Amina will not take the slight lying down. The statement is also illuminating, for it confirms Amina’s own admission of missing the ocean. That Dalila puts it this way shows how deep Amina’s love for sailing goes, and the fact that the quote comes after a discussion of her four husbands is typical of the humor of the book. The men are moderately interesting to Amina, but the ship is what has her heart.

“Sometimes one sees a paranoid poisoner at their side.”

The quote is typical of Amina’s humorous, often sarcastic voice. It contrasts nicely with the formal language of the scribe and fits a character that is rougher and more action-oriented. The comment about Dalila is both humorous and practical and also slightly dangerous, summarizing both Amina and her crew perfectly.

“I hesitated. It was a great sin to attack a fellow Muslim at prayer, and yet what choice did I have? If I failed to act, I risked the lives of all my men.”

This quote makes obvious the theme of Rekindling and Strengthening One’s Faith. In the middle of the action, Amina is struck by guilt and feels the conflict between her religion’s demands and the violent requirements of the moment. This tension causes her to continually go back to God in distress, but it also makes clear that she has goodness within her. Amina’s essential goodness is what makes her a hero and drives all her courageous actions, and this trait also enables her to continually approach God anew, even after having to do something that is against the law of her religion, even if it is necessary for her own code of ethics.

“My parents are healthy and hale, but did I know how much happier they would be if I returned home for good? Especially since so-and-so has a daughter looking to wed.”

The Conflicting Worlds of Domesticity and Adventure is a theme not limited to motherhood and women. All the characters feel the pull of their families’ expectations and love at some point, including the men, such as Tinbu, who in this quote talks about his family’s expectations that he have a son. His inability to fulfill their expectations because of his sexual orientation makes his conflict doubly difficult.

“I figured she was a dead end, but then the granddaughter tracked us down in the street. Said she wanted to make a deal.”

Here Amina is hearing the truth of the situation for the first time, and everything becomes more complicated. Up until this point, there was no indication of the character of Dunya, but this statement is a surprise and shows that there is much more to the situation and the character than Amina assumed.

“‘I am not distracted,’ I insisted. ‘I am murderously focused.’”

Amina’s friends are not shy in calling her out when she is not behaving in a way that they approve of or when they are worried about her, and this sarcastic response to her companions’ query shows the intimacy that exists amongst the protagonists. It also is an example of Amina’s play on words. She is often vulgar in her language, but she is also sometimes poetic and funny, as in this quote.

“Now you remain my best, possibly my sole hope of recovering the only family I have left. If you walk away, I will destroy yours.”

Salima’s desperation causes her to speak more bluntly in this quote than she had in the beginning scenes that featured her. The intense love for family members is in evidence throughout the novel, as is a sub-theme that manifests in the people left at home as well as those on the Marawati. Both grandmothers—Salima and Amina’s mother—have powerful feelings of love for their children and grandchildren, and Salima will even act unethically and against the rules of her God to get Dunya back. The quote is also convenient to the larger force of the storytelling, for it is clear that Amina would rather go on adventures but is held back by guilt. This situation makes it impossible for her to say no, and so she must go, adhering to the Hero’s Journey, which involves rejecting the initial invitation to the quest before finally accepting it.

“Both my grandfather and my father had impressed upon me from an early age that we shared the sea with countless other peoples; if God had not meant for such diversity, he would have made us all alike.”

Amina’s accepting attitude and open-mindedness is what helps her achieve success with The Power of Teamwork. Her easy acceptance welcomes people of all religions and orientations, and even extends to non-human demons and monsters. This in turn creates bonds of loyalty between them and sets her up for success.

“For how could I enjoy being on the Marawati if it kept me from Marjana? Especially on a mission so dangerous?”

[…] I loved being on my ship, the wind in my face and the salty damp in my clothes. I loved taking pride in running a tight vessel and a capable crew, jesting with my companions and rising each dawn to see a new expanse of water stretching toward the horizon. Seafaring had been stamped into my soul long ago; there was no rooting it out.”

This is one of the small turning points for Amina, where she struggles with admitting the power of her internal struggle with Conflicting Worlds of Domesticity and Adventure. This revelation that the love of the sea is not going to go away, nor should it, is inspired when she hears another woman’s similar struggle to reconcile her disparate passions. Only when Amina is able to share her feelings with another woman is she able to start accepting her feelings.

“Now, I have a weakness for wine. Even today, when I have been on the path or righteousness for years and not allowed a drop of that which is forbidden to pass my lips, I still have moment I long for a cup.”

Amina is honest with her scribe, and this admission is an interesting character flaw particularly for someone from her religion. It shows the theme of Rekindling and Strengthening One’s Faith, as the quote declares that Amina has not had a drink for years. That she calls it the “path of righteousness” and not “being sober” shows that for Amina, this is an issue with her faith that she continually struggles with.

“I want to go everywhere. I want to be great…I want to look upon my mother again and see pride in her eyes. I want to explore lands I’ve heard about only in tales…I want so much.”

This is the first time that Amina admits these desires so openly. As a theme, The Conflicting Worlds of Domesticity and Adventure seems unequally weighted for the protagonist, with all the desires for the ocean and adventure on the one side and the lesser draw of the domestic world on the other. However, the reference to her mother’s pride shows that the family and the domestic world still holds immense power, enough that she partially wants to achieve greatness because she wants to impress her family.

“Did you feel it? The magic between us?”

Raksh is constantly frustrated by a bond between him and Amina that he cannot quite define, for it is powerful enough to draw him to her and allow him to sense her approach. This information creates suspense, for because the bond is caused by Marjana, it highlights Amina’s continued resolve to keep the knowledge of her daughter’s existence from Raksh. While Raksh declares that his family means nothing, the fact that he feels so bonded to Amina over their child—even without knowing that he has a child—foreshadows more important things to come in later novels and hints that Marjana will be developed more fully as a character in her own right.

“But it wasn’t only Marjana who needed me. Falco had my crew.”

This idea is a major turning point for Amina’s character in her struggle to deal with The Conflicting Worlds of Domesticity and Adventure. Admitting that there are other people she needs to worry about and other loyalties she needs to honor besides those of her daughter is both heartbreaking and empowering. It allows her to put aside her guilt, focus on what is in front of her, and act.

“God, please have mercy on me once more. […] Get me out of this and I am done with these adventures. I shall repent and never again venture upon the sea.”

This quote is almost a direct quote from the epigraph from “The Sixth Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor,” which Chakraborty discusses as being an influence. The quote also helps show the theme of Rekindling and Strengthening One’s Faith in times of blessing and times of crisis.

“‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ I finally replied. ‘This man could manifest as a beam of celestial light, and he chose to use that power to spy on a naked woman?’

‘Are you surprised?’

Honestly, no.”

Amina’s humorous earthiness is threaded throughout the book in the way that she occasionally looks at fellow sailors with lust or enjoys Raksh’s human form. Her acceptance of her own and others’ sexual desires illustrates her ship’s accepting atmosphere, which furthers The Power of Teamwork that she cultivates. In this moment, the character’s humor and straightforward thinking combine with her experience of the world in a sarcastic retort to her husband.

“Not all spirits of discord are like me. Love causes discord, the birth of a child causes discord, the sudden discovery of some new cure for a deadly disease causes discord.”

Raksh’s revelations about himself and his character are few, and this is a key philosophical moment in the text that illustrates how his thinking differs from Amina’s human point of view. It is also a moment of revelation for Amina in a negative way, for she realizes that their daughter Marjana might be one of the spirits who is in danger if Falco is successful.

“[Asif] Told me his parents had unreasonable expectations and that he feared the wife he barely knew would never forgive him for abandoning her and their child. So he wanted to return to them in style.”

The pressures of The Conflicting Worlds of Domesticity and Adventure are not limited to the female gender and motherhood. Here, the author shows a father under pressure, torn between the conflict of being what his family expects and pursuing a life of glory. The pressure is intense, as Amina can’t stop thinking about it, and for Asif, it is enough that it drives him to sell his soul. The quote is a moment of revelation for Amina and a turning point for her character; before this moment, she felt that Asif’s death was her fault. The revelation that his own ambition destroyed him is both a relief and a source of grief for the protagonist.

“But it turns out I hadn’t told the truth to Dalila back in Aden: my people were more important than the Marwari, and if I had to risk my ship to free them, so be it.”

Amina admits the truth that the Marawati is only a symbol for the life she wants, and it is the people who make that lifestyle an exciting and interesting path to follow. Amina’s deeply held morals are not as dastardly as she would like people to believe. The value of human life, particularly of those she loves, separates her from the antagonist who otherwise may appear to be very similar to Amina.

“Go home and be a mother to your child for as long as you can. And truthfully that was what I desired more than anything right now, my heart aching at the very prospect of holding Marjana in my arms. And yet…I wanted more.”

Throughout the novel, Amina’s inner voice functions as a critic and reminder of societal expectations. No one tells her to stay home and be a mother, not even her own mother, but she has still internalized the expectations of the world around her. The Conflicting World of Domesticity and Adventure is one that is rooted in her mind, and when she is able to admit and honor her true desires, she is able to stop berating herself and begins to try and figure out how to reconcile her two lives.

“There must be a way to make this work so we can see our children.”

That the father on the ship is the one who voices this need shows that Chakraborty’s theme of The Conflicting Worlds of Domesticity and Adventure isn’t limited to gender. One’s love of one’s children and family is not shown in female characters alone, as Majed also misses his children and wants to figure out how to reconcile the conflict between his worlds. Shortly after this quote, Marjana is shown on the ship, hinting that the crew has begun to find a way to work through the conflict. Her appearance onboard also foreshadows changes that may occur in the next few books.