The trajectory of Vincent’s life also mirrors her mother’s: they both live precarious, transient lives before meeting older married men and settling for unsatisfying but stable lives of domesticity. Given the similarities of their lives, Vincent might believe that going to sea, like her mother had so many years before, will make her feel closer to her mother and ultimately, perhaps, find peace in relation to her mother’s uncertain cause of death. The sea so appeals to Vincent because in its vast emptiness, she might gain the mental clarity she needs to find these answers and confront her personal demons. To Vincent, the sea is the opposite of the domestic sphere she and her mother found so stifling and oppressive.