Drowned Twice: In the Sea and in Oblivion

Mohamed Zafzaf's novel "Graves in the Water" plunges readers into a world of marginalized people living on the brink of starvation, their lives inextricably linked to the sea, fragile boats, and individuals who prioritize profit over human lives. Fishermen venture out for sustenance, carrying their fears and hopes on the same vessel, only for the sea to claim some, returning the village to its familiar sorrow.

The sea's toll leaves behind women gazing at the horizon and children searching for their fathers' faces in every returning fisherman. Homes, once full, become vast with loneliness, tables are incomplete, and doors await footsteps that will never return. Zafzaf does not solely blame the sea for death; he reveals a complex web of greed, poverty, power, and need.

Ayash, who manages the boat, treats the fishermen as mere tools, devoid of souls. The villagers confront him with anger, demanding justice for the deceased. The leader intervenes, preserving the power balance and allowing hunger to silence the words. A feast follows, offering a brief respite from starvation and temporarily dulling the anger. While the feast doesn't erase death or absolve Ayash, it grants the hungry a fleeting moment of oblivion.

The novel illustrates how poverty not only kills by starvation but also compels individuals to postpone their anger, swallow their words, and even shake hands with those who wronged them. Ayash defeats the villagers not with logic, but with their need. As night falls, the sea remains awake, its waves turning like an old man's weary hand flipping through a name ledger, remembering faces, bodies, and small dreams lost to its depths. The sea doesn't ask the drowned their names, their origins, or the language they used to call for their mothers; it simply hears the cry, holds it, and returns a single shoe, a salt-laden shirt, or a silent phone holding a lifetime of images. This suggests that some graves need no earth, and a person can find their final resting place in the water, far from family, without a marker or a mother's prayer.

The story extends beyond the novel's initial setting, with names swallowed by the sea reappearing on the shores of Fnideq and the walls of Ceuta and Melilla. Faces change, but the tragedy remains. Boats are replaced by illusion-selling brokers or smugglers dictating passage prices, or misleading guides portraying Europe as an open door. A young man on the beach at Fnideq, placing his phone in a plastic bag and his shoes around his neck, looks at the lights of Ceuta. The city seems closer than his dreams, clearer than his future at home. He believes minutes of swimming separate him from another life, unaware of the current, the cold, or the fear that transforms the sea into a living wall. Behind him lies a cramped home, a tired father, a mother hiding her anxiety, and a degree that opened no doors. Before him, a glittering city promises answers to all his questions. Between them lies silent, deep water, offering no promises. He enters the sea, the first wave hitting his chest. He hesitates, then remembers telling friends he would arrive and writing his sister, "I'll call you from the other side." The words were confident, but his heart was filled with fear. He continues swimming, hearing others' breaths, distant shouts, a boat's engine, and the splash of water against bodies. After minutes, thoughts of Europe, work, or papers fade, replaced by memories of his bed, his mother's voice, the cup of tea left on the table, and the door he closed without...