“At a secret signal, all is chaos, a thousand mirrors shattering about him.” 

This passage captures the novel’s title: When young Nishan dives into the ocean, the fish that look like “living shards of light” quickly disperse into chaos (8). The mirrors here foreshadow the chaotic events about to take place in this beautiful setting, but they also hint at something shattered or broken. Saraswathi, the second narrator, distorts this imagery into broken glass when she is introduced in Part 2.

“She has been brought up with definite ideas about the value of each thing and person, its significance and appropriate place on a strict hierarchy. She is unable to tolerate this laxity, her husband’s inability or indeed conscious decision not to treat each person according to ancient laws.”

Foundations of cyclical resentment are established early in the novel. Beatrice Muriel adheres to remnants of colonial order. She values people based upon class, caste, and skin color. The tension between Beatrice Muriel and her husband sets an early foundation for parallel tensions in future relationships in her grandchildren’s lives.

“Of the two races on this island, we Sinhala are Aryans and the Tamils are Dravidians. This island is ours, given to us from the Buddha’s own hand long, long before they came. And now they have come and we are forced to share this place. But really it belongs to us.” 

This history of the island depicts opposing races locked in conflict. When Mala challenges the notion that one race holds rights over the other, the fisherman Seeni Banda warns that the Tamil “will force us bit by bit into the sea” (24). This version of the island’s history frightens the children, sowing seeds of suspicion toward their Tamil schoolmates. In this way, ethnic tensions are passed from one generation to the next, deepening the divide between the island’s Sinhala and Tamil populations.