Summary Of The Novel 'The Infinite Sea' By Rick Yancey
1379 Words6 Pages
Imagine a watermelon. It’s hard on the outside, yet the inside flesh is soft with unexpected little seeds in it. Some people can be like this. They put up a hard front, but when exposed they appear to be softer than you thought. In the novel, The Infinite Sea, by Rick Yancey, the sequel to The 5th Wave, our first narrator is a teenage girl by the name of Ringer. We first met Ringer in The 5th Wave, however The Infinite Sea is where we really learn more about her. To give some background, The Infinite Sea takes place in modern day post-apocalyptic America. Aliens have invaded Earth and have already wiped out 99% of the population with a series of deadly waves. The fifth wave, we discovered in the preceding novel, is having the survivors turn…show more content… Keep Teacup alive. You wouldn’t expect her to care for the girl, but Teacup was giving Ringer something to live for. Ringer gave herself up in order for Teacup to have her best chance of survival. “... the minute we decide one person doesn’t matter, they’ve won, and now my words are the chain that binds me to her.” (Yancey 20). After being captured, Teacup’s state was always on Ringer’s mind and even when Ringer thought she was escaping from Vosch, she made sure that Teacup was coming with. If Ringer hadn’t saved Teacup that first day, she wouldn’t have felt that pressure to keep her alive and Teacup couldn’t have been used to manipulate her. The threat of killing Teacup was constantly a hindrance to Ringer and it kept her from doing what she needed, causing much conflict. In the end, Teacup is shot and killed so that Ringer can be free of the emotional tie that’s inhibiting her. “[His] target was the smallest thing that is the sum of all things, his bullet the sword that severs the chain that bound me.” (Yancey 295). Ringer’s quest has come to a close. She doesn’t need to protect Teacup any…show more content… She sets up this hard, cold front to keep herself from getting too attached to people. But after she becomes exposed to us by Vosch, we can see flesh and can tell that she’s not that stoic on the inside. In The 5th Wave, all we see Ringer as is a cold-hearted soldier that doesn’t smile. The events that occur during The Infinite Sea crack open her shell and reveal what her true qualities are. Before going out to scope the caves, we know that Ringer has rejected all of Ben Parish’s advances to flirt and thinks stubbornly that going independently is best. She seems very indifferent to all people besides Teacup. Ringer is a believer in “tough love”; doing things like smacking Teacup for cussing. We discover the reason behind the impression that she is completely heartless. “To survive I built walls, an emotional fortress that protected me and kept me sane in a world gone dangerously insane…” (Yancey 193). On the way to the caves when she accidentally shoots Teacup, Ringer shows a different side of herself. One that is willing to sacrifice her own safety in order to save someone she cares about. Now, knowing Ringer from earlier, this is a complete surprise that she is so concerned for someone else rather than just herself. “...your decision yesterday to give yourself up when you realized capture was the little girl’s only chance to survive… defied logic and ignored the first prerogative of all living things: to continue living.” (Yancey 195). After being