Mar Nueva by Mark Helprin
"Mar Nueva" by Mark Helprin is a poignant coming-of-age story that explores themes of freedom, oppression, and the intricate relationship between life and death. Set in an idyllic seaside region of an unnamed South American country, the narrative follows a young boy as he spends his summers at his family's beach house amidst the looming shadow of a powerful dictator, Santos-Ott. The boy's experiences are intertwined with moments of joy, such as fishing and swimming, which contrast starkly with the political turmoil surrounding him.
A pivotal encounter occurs when the boy befriends an old man on the dock, later revealed to be the dictator himself, who embodies the oppressive regime. The narrative also highlights the boy's remarkable fishing prowess, culminating in the capture of bluefin tuna, a metaphor for the freedom of the sea juxtaposed with the control exerted by Santos-Ott. The story shifts focus to the boy's sister, Claudia, whose courageous confrontation with the dictator symbolizes resistance against tyranny. Claudia's actions, ultimately leading to her tragic sacrifice, underscore the themes of bravery and integrity in the face of fear, making "Mar Nueva" a rich tapestry of youthful innocence and the harsh realities of political oppression.
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Mar Nueva by Mark Helprin
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 2004 (collected in The Pacific, and Other Stories, 2004)
Type of work: Short story
The Work
“Mar Nueva” tells the story of, among other things, a boy’s coming-of-age and his encounters with freedom, captivity, integrity, oppression, and life and death. Helprin’s prodigious imagination weaves a novel’s worth of themes, settings, and details into a thirty-two-page story.
The narrator recalls the seasons of his youth when his family would summer at their beach house in Mar Nueva, a seaside region of an unnamed South American country in the grip of a powerful dictator named Santos-Ott. Despite the ominous political background it was an idyllic life for a young boy, with days spent swimming in the sea and fishing. He becomes such an accomplished fisherman that he supplements his family’s income with his catch.
One summer, the family arrives at Mar Nueva to find the neighboring property built up with a wall-encircled mansion complete with sentry boxes and armed guards. An old man dressed in a swimsuit and sandals appears on the dock one day and befriends the boy, talking mostly of fishing; he is Santos-Ott.
A side story develops as the young narrator catches, almost accidentally, more than twenty huge bluefin tuna, a species of the deep sea rarely caught from shore. Despite the relative riches that these fish would provide, the boy is in awe of the fish, declaring that “they had everything about them of the open sea, and I had never intended to capture the open sea.” As the boy and his older sister, Claudia, are cutting the tuna free, Santos-Ott arrives, this time dressed in his medal-bespangled white military uniform, underscoring the symbolism of the freedom of the fish in the sea versus the control that Santos-Ott held over the fearful people of his country.
The focus of the story then shifts to Claudia, a passionate, outspoken girl of seventeen. She confronts the dictator, speaking freely the things most citizens were even afraid to think. She argues with him about fear and power, anarchy and oppression. She knows that she has endangered her own life and that of her family with her courage, honesty, and bravery when Santos-Ott says that she must have been raised by revolutionaries.
Finally, she becomes a sacrifice to freedom and integrity when, to save the lives of her family, she drowns herself in the same sea that had brought such pleasure to them all and had been the symbol of all that was free and beautiful.
Bibliography
Alexander, Paul. “Big Books, Tall Tales.” The New York Times Magazine 140 (April 28, 1991): 32.
Keneally, Thomas. “Of War and Memory.” Review of A Soldier of the Great War, by Mark Helprin. The New York Times Book Review, May 5, 1991, 1.
Lambert, Craig. “Literary Warrior.” Harvard Magazine (May/June, 2005): 38-43.
Linville, James. “Mark Helprin: The Art of Fiction CXXXII.” The Paris Review 35 (Spring, 1993): 160-199.
“Mark Helprin’s Next Ten Years (and Next Six Books) with HBJ.” Publishers Weekly 236 (June 9, 1989): 33-34.
Max, D. T. “His Horses Used to Fly.” The New York Times Book Review, November 7, 2004, p. 24
Meroney, John. “’Live’ with TAE: Mark Helprin.” The American Enterprise (July/August. 2001): 17-20.
Rubins, Josh. “Small Expectations.” Review of Winter’s Tale, by Mark Helprin. The New York Review of Books 30 (November 24, 1983): 40-41.
Solotarfoff, Ed. “A Soldier’s Tale.” Review of A Soldier of the Great War, by Mark Helprin. The Nation 252 (June 10, 1991): 776-781.