Happiness often eludes us all in life. It frequently serves as a sweet dream that never survives for long in the harsh conditions of reality. But the fleeting moments it stays within our grasps is enough to continue the spark of desire for something so intangible. The characters within the novel, A Place Where the Sea Remembers by Sandra Benitez, are intricately woven to create an evocative tale about humanity. Throughout the manuscript lies a theme poignantly symbolized by the color blue. The hue holds meanings of change, hope, and life itself.
The characters live their lives inside a cycle of change "the only constant. Along the way, their actions are colored by hopes. It is demonstrated at the beginning when Benitez writes, "On the day after his promotion to salad-maker, Candelario Marroquin painted the door of his house a robin's egg blue. The color blue was an obsession for him. Since his youth, he had found comfort in the special blueness of new mornings. The azure stars that edge Our Lady's mantle inspired him almost always to pray. And the glinting cobalt of the sea produce in him such excitement that he was forced at times to turn his back on it- (3). .
All of those things are an excellent depiction of the character Candelario (Cande). It shows that Cande has a great deal of faith within himself. His promotion to salad-maker was a large change as well as a sign of better things to come. He expressed this feeling by painting as "each stroke of the brush soothed him and left him more at peace- (3-4). Also, throughout his life, the color blue has captured him. It was astounding and sometimes so breathtaking that he could hardly contain himself.
Once more, hope is exhibited when Cande's wife, Chayo, tells him about her dream where she "tossed a sapphire-tinted flower onto each new cresting wave- (10) and asks him if it was a bad dream. In turn, he responds, "How can it be when there was so much blue in it?- (10).
