What is the symbolic significance of food in Reef?įood is a motif used for many symbolic purposes throughout Reef.
By contrast, Nili, who has never had to procure her own food, cannot accept that violence is sometimes necessary for survival. Triton identifies with the fishermen, understanding that killing fish is their only way to make a living. This event highlights the class differences between Nili and Triton and foreshadows the impending violence in Sri Lanka. Still, Nilli is repulsed by the putrefying fish and the casual violence, wondering if people who can kill a dolphin can also kill human beings. The butchering of fish does not phase Triton. Nilli and Triton visit the fish market, a common experience for Triton and a novel one for Nili. What is the significance of Nili and Triton’s visit to the fish market? Ultimately, Nili sympathizes with Triton more than Mister Salgado's upper-crust friends do, but still participates in the power imbalance between the servant and the served. Nili also relies on Triton to care for her physical needs and orders Triton around in front of guests. Her choice of Christmas present is a cookbook, which, though Triton loves the gift, demonstrates that Nili only understands him in terms of the labor he provides Mister Salgado. However, Nili's interactions with Triton, though friendly, still reinforce the class differences between them. Nili's intentional outreach to Triton disrupts the servant-master dynamic under which Triton lived much of his life. Nili also shows interest in Triton's work, profusely complimenting his cooking and accompanying him to the fish market. Nili calls Triton by his first name, asks him for favors instead of commanding him, and even gives him a Christmas present, the first gift he ever received. When Nili enters Triton's life, she surprises him by treating him with more dignity than Mister Salgado or his friends do. How does Nili's relationship with Triton both disrupt and reinforce the master-servant dynamic?
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