The Devil and the Dark Water

Content Warning: This guide contains discussions of emotional and physical domestic abuse as depicted in the novel. One character is identified as having Hansen’s disease, the illness formerly known as leprosy. The source text uses a derogatory term to link this character’s identity with his illness, as was common in the era. This guide will identify him by his name (Bosey) or as “the man with leprosy” (using the historically accurate term for the illness).

“[Sara] went like a condemned woman, shoulders square, eyes down, and fists clenched by her sides. Shame reddened her face, though most mistook it for heat.”

In her first introduction, Sara appears trapped in her marriage to her abusive husband, as this simile compares her to a “condemned” woman. She attempts to live as she wants, practicing her passion of healing on Bosey, yet she is then forced to return to the palanquin in “shame” and suffer the wrath of her husband.

“[Haan’s] proposal had been thorough, listing the benefits of their union to her father. In short, she’d have a beautiful cage and all the time in the world to admire herself in the bars. […] She’d felt betrayed, but she’d been young. She understood the world better now. Meat didn’t get a say on whose hook it hung from.”

This depiction of Sara’s marriage exemplifies the theme of Gender and Class Inequality. As a woman, Sara had no say in her marriage and was instead given to the man who had the most to offer to her family. She is metaphorically compared to both a bird and butchered meat—both stuck and neither capable of influencing their situations.

“Ferries swarmed the Saardam, crossing the water in a long chain, like ants attacking a dead ox.”

The first time the ship is seen, Turton uses a simile to compare the Saardam to a dead ox. This foreshadowing shows the doom that is headed for the ship and its passengers.