Sandpiper: Marriage and Narrator

Ahdaf Soueif illustrates through vivid characterization how disparate racial origins can drive a deep wedge between people, particularly couples who figure in a romantic relationship. The place or setting is the biggest factor in this short story, it is a reason for the couple's fading love and growing estranged. The setting places the narrator in a foreign land, whose cultural values have a negative impact on her causing her to fade from blissful love to saddening regret and hurt. Her identity is altered to that of a foreigner as perceived by those around her and this changes her mind set, perceiving herself differently, as a different person.
The most apparent portrayal of the result of the setting on the narrator is the "fading love" experienced between her and her husband. The flashbacks present within the story, "My second summer here was the sixth of our love - and the last of our happiness." allude to the vast differences between their relationships at various times. This allows the reader relationship wise, to sense the regret and deep emotional state experienced by the narrator.
Soueif portrays her as a helpless being, lying in hope of luck and in hope for a magical change. The comparison of 'each wave......different' to that 'vast blue' acts as an real life image to the two sides of her life.The 'vast blue' seems to remain as her expectations as she dreams of such a 'low growl', it being calm , soft and natural, moreover it being the behavior she expects from her husband remembering it to be there 'six years ago.' Her wants seem totally perfect as she settles in complete love with her partner, but such a one sided relationship seems to be taken as granted.
The writer gives special emphasis on the phrase, "Eight Summers", instead of eight years, indicating that the speaker has lost the warmth and the love from her husband, considering the fragile situation. Readers can infer the fact that cold and dark winters lie ahead of her, which could be full