The River and Ammu

In one of my first blog entries, I talked about the interesting description of Ammu as turning 'wild' in a sense, wandering about the river with her tangerine transistor radio. Later in the book, this description of the river reminded me of that earlier passage about Ammu:

"'Really a wild thing... I can hear her at night--rushing past in the moonlight, always in a hurry. You must be careful of her'" (201).

This reminds me of Ammu not only because of the earlier reference to her as 'wild' but also because of her secret stealing out at night that she has been doing. It makes me think that she is in some sort of danger. This passage about the river is mysterious just as Ammu's night excursions are also quite mind-boggling. Ammu is deliberately being paralleled to the river here and they are both being pointed out as wild, dangerous, and mysterious all at the same time.

Due to the extreme dream-like quality of this entire book, I thought it would be interesting to do a little bit more research about what a river symbolizes in a dream (much like the dream-like quality that Ammu's midnight excursions by the river take on).