The Infinite Sea Literary Elements

Dystopian, Young Adult, Fantasy

Ohio, after the Arrival of the Others

This book is primarily narrated from the point of view of Cassie and Ringer, with some chapters by Poundcake and Evan.

The tone is serious and dire, like the circumstances; however, it also has moments of levity and sarcasm due to the personalities of its characters.

"'I've been here before,' I told the Macho Brigade." (153)

"Grace: A person, not a prayer or anything close to being connected to God." (160)

"Oh no you don't, bitch. Not my little brother." (163)

Cassie and Ringer are the protagonists, while the Others and Vosch are the antagonists.

The major conflict in the story is the fight to survive by the humans. They have to continually battle against the Others, who have superior manpower and technology. There are several conflicts, including one where the squad and Cassie must escape a hotel before it blows up, and where Ringer must decide whether to save Teacup and alert the Others to their location or run and let her die.

The climax of the story occurs when Ringer is turned into an Other by being "enhanced" by machinery over several weeks and having robots inserted into her. She realizes that this is not an alien product, but a human one. There were never any Others - simply humans who believed that they were aliens. In reality, they were simply enhanced humans, like Ringer has become. This is all revealed to Ringer through her own deduction and the "help" of Colonel Vosch.

"Promises are the only currency left. They must be spent wisely." (2)

Ringer says this to Teacup as the story begins, foreshadowing that there will be a major conflict between these characters. It foretells that Ringer will make a promise to Teacup that she will have to decide whether or not to break for the benefit of herself or someone else. Their friendship will be put to the test.

"A virtual existence doesn't require a physical planet." (9)

Ringer says this to herself. This foreshadows the fact that the presence of the Others doesn't make sense. It gives the reader the hint that there perhaps aren't any Others, just humans playing a game with their own species. This is later revealed to be true by Vosch, who confesses that the Others are simply enhanced humans who have been convinced that they are Others.

"She's alive because you are. If you aren't, she won't be." (198)

Vosch says this to Ringer once he has captured her, referring to Teacup. If Ringer is alive, Teacup will be too. This statement foreshadows that something will happen to one of these characters that will affect the other - either Ringer or Teacup will die and that will be the impetus for the other's revenge.

"At some point, the little girl had acquired Bear. Sam probably gave it to her - he was always passing that bear to someone in need." (170)

This is an understatement because Cassie is speaking about the teddy bear as though it was simply a stuffed animal. But it is much more to her than that. For the entirety of the first book, it was a symbol of her brother and kept her going on her quest to save him. Cassie doesn't state it, but the subtext of this sentence shows that she is a little hurt that Sammy would give away the bear again, a bear that had become so important and symbolic to her.

"Chess wasn't invented. It was discovered." (225)

Ringer says this to Razor as she teaches him how to play chess in the army base. This is an allusion to how chess became a popular game in the world, spreading from India in the 6th century throughout the whole world.

"What's up with Buzz Lightyear?" (131)

This is an allusion to the alien character in Toy Story by Dumbo when he refers to Evan.

"tattered pink Hello Kitty T-shirt." (132)

This is an allusion to a typically girly toy that a girl of Megan's age, who is wearing the shirt, would enjoy.

"but there's no way I'm letting you turn this hotel into the Titanic." (155)

This is an allusion to the movie Titanic by James Cameron. Cassie says this to Evan, meaning that she will not let him sacrifice himself for her the way Jack sacrificed himself for Rose.

"Hello, Evan,' Cosmo Girl said." (160)

This is described by Cassie and is an allusion to the magazine Cosmopolitan, where beautiful models are often photographed and displayed. It alludes to Grace's astounding beauty.

"A mud- (or it could have been blood-) stained, tattered pink Hello Kitty T-shirt. A pair of shorts that once had been tan, maybe, faded to a dirty white. Grungy white flip-flops with a couple stubborn rhinestones clinging to the straps. A narrow, pixieish face dominated by huge eyes, topped by a mass of tangled dark hair. And young, around Sammy's age, though she was so thin, her face looked like a little old lady's." (133)

This imagery helps the reader picture a new character. Megan, Sammy's friend from the first book, is now being reintroduced into the story, except now she is also seen through the eyes of the rest of the squad in this paragraph.

"I heard him because he was practically climbing into my back pocket trying to get into the hall." (170)

Cassie describes the scene as Dumbo panics when the enemy helicopter lands on the roof. It injects some humor into the scene and captures Cassie's character as well. It also demonstrates how dire and scary the situation is, as Dumbo cannot get away fast enough.

"Stairwell: metal rails painted gray like the floors, cobwebs fluttering in corners, dusty yellow lightbulbs in wire cages, descending into warmer, mustier air." (199)

This imagery portrays how Ringer sees the place where she has become an enhanced human. She is surrounded by a dismal setting and evaluating her surroundings in order to best attack her guards and escape. This imagery puts the reader in her head and lets us see the situation as she sees it.

"He was not one of them. He was completely one of them. Wholly Other. Fully human." (90)

Evan is a paradox. He is both Other and human, but not half of either. He is both completely, making him unlike either side and complicating his position infinitely.

"Sam was hovering near Ben's leg, one tiny finger hooked into his big buddy's belt loop. Something in my heart gave a little at the sight. Ben told me they called my little brother 'Zombie's dog' in camp, meaning ever faithfully by his side." (128)

There is a paradox illustrated here because Sammy is now more attached to Ben, a stranger, than to his own sister, Cassie. This is painful to Cassie and hard for her to understand.

"Kind eyes. Soft voice." (198)

The author describes Vosch as kind and soft as he threatens both Teacup and Ringer's lives, creating a paradox between his sinister words and his kindly appearance.

"He'd found Cassie by becoming her." (86)

"Grace had several options. He had two. No. If there was any hope of keeping his promise, he had just one: Cassie's choice." (90)

Evan says this to himself as he lies under a car, hiding for his life. Grace is tracking and shooting him just as he hunted Cassie in the first book. Now, he has taken a page out of Cassie's book and followed her example in order to survive. In his quest to find Cassie physically, he has found her metaphorically, as he follows her actions. This creates a parallelism and further connection between these two characters.

"'That's been the worst part,' she [Grace] agreed. 'Feeling as if you're the only person in the universe.'" (87)

"Sometimes I think that I might be the last human on Earth." (87)

Both of these quotes occur on the same page and illustrate the parallelism between Grace and Cassie respectively. Grace tells Evan that sometimes she feared that she was the only Other, that it was all in her head. Cassie had written in her diary, and told Evan in the first book, that she often feared that she was the last human on Earth until she found him. These are the words that echo through Evan's mind as he hears Grace utter a similar statement. This demonstrates that the Others are not that different from humans, even if they think they are completely inhuman, like Grace does.

"He warmed himself by the fire. Grace made no fire. His the light and warmth. Hers the dark and cold." (90)

This demonstrates the parallels between Evan and Grace. They are two Others, but they are both very different. The author purposely compares and contrasts in order to show the reader that the Others are more complicated and complex than the humans have ever realized.

"'Marika.' Kind eyes. Soft voice. 'She's alive because you are. If you aren't, she won't be.'" (198)

Vosch's words illustrate that there will now be parallelism between Ringer and Teacup. Whatever happens to one will happen to the other, so both must be on their best behavior.

Synecdoche:

"The murder." (18)

Murder here refers to a flock of crows that Ringer sees as she walks by the outskirts of Urbana.

Metonymy:

"Welcome to Dubuque." (175)

Dubuque is used in this case as a substitute for death, or a bad situation that will lead to death.

"'A CPU, if you will.'" (216)

Vosch describes how they create enhanced humans by inserting something into their brain. CPU refers to a central processing unit.

"White Coat calls out, tremble-voiced." (217)

In this case, White Coat is a metonymy for a doctor or other medical professional, usually attired in a white lab coat and thus symbolic of their status and job.

"That was the real reason he didn't want to be a lawyer. Suits, he called them." (235)

Razor explains to Ringer why his father didn't want him to become a lawyer, and how he referred to a lawyers as suits, a metonymy.

"The cold clamps down, squeezing my chest." (1)

This personification illustrates how cold and icy Ringer feels. It allows the reader to enter her environment and imagine that level of cold, without experiencing it directly. Cold cannot actually clamp down or squeeze. Here, Ringer is giving it human qualities to emphasize her point.

"The bed hums, maneuvering my body into a sitting position." (224)

Ringer describes this, but the bed cannot actually maneuver her position up to sitting since it is an inanimate object. This personification helps to show how Ringer feels in the bed and in the army base, an object to be moved and maneuvered without her help.