Sinners And The Sea By Yasmina Reza Analysis

In Rebecca Kanner’s Sinners and the Sea and Yasmina Reza’s The God of Carnage the human capacity to commit violence is emphasized. Kanner portrays violence during the time of Noah time before and during the flood. The sinners of the town of Sorum, as well as some members of Noah’s family, commit acts of violence toward one another. Reza portrays violence with the same intensity as Kanner, but with a limited cast of characters. The difference between the two portrayals of violence is that Kanner uses evil as a transformative force, while Reza depicts evil as an end. Kanner is hopeful that evil restores the good, while Reza believes that evil does not bring positive outcomes.
Sinners and the Sea contains many evil influences. The city of Sorum, home to mostly criminals and prostitutes, is the pinnacle of all the evil present in Noah’s lifetime. The narrator describes Sorum upon her arrival: “There was no shortage of heads on sticks…these cries were more savage than any animal’s” (Kanner 51). Death pervaded every aspect of life in Sorum. Even the children of the town were subject to evil, as they were mostly prostitutes as well. Kanner portrays Sorum in such a negative light in order to render it a hopeless cause. She hopes that
When Jank’s men attack the ark, Zilpha is nearly killed from an injury caused by a throwing hook. As she severely bleeds, each member of the family must come to her assistance by applying pressure on her wound. Even Japheth, the least admired son of the family, gathers with the rest of the family around Zilpha and plays an integral role in her revival. As Japheth presses his hands over Zilpha’s wound, “the coverings beneath [us] gather no more blood…as if this is what she’s been waiting for” (315). The violence inflicted on Zilpha is a unifying experience for the family. Kanner cleverly uses Zilpha’s near death encounter to bring the family closer