“But she just sat there, totally composed, the coloring in her face unchanging; in fact, it looked like she was about to fall asleep. He ordered her to stop. She couldn’t quite hear him, or at least immediately react, as she had entered that state whenever she was in the tanks a long time and aligned with the underwater rhythms, that quelled, half-alive feeling that was neither frightening nor fraught but rather strangely liberating, for the wanting of nothing, not even air.” – On Such a Full Sea, pg. 124
In this scene, Fan was showing Quig how long she can hold her breath. Fan immerses herself into this state of stillness that water brings out of her and is stopped abruptly by Quig who is startled while witnessing this. The author, Chang-Rae Lee was able to capture the sensorial feeling of Fan being underwater even though it was a demonstration on land, this place of in-between life and death, of stillness. This duality of water is portrayed continuously throughout the novel and is captured in Fan, whose character resembles water-like qualities. Lee uses imagery to imitate the senses of being underwater and emphasizes her relationship with water and air.
Lee starts with visual imagery, describing Fan’s face as unchanging, composed without color which is already drawing a portrait of someone who has drowned. This continues with Fan looking as if “she was about to fall asleep”, “half-alive feeling”, and not wanting air. Additionally, Fan couldn’t hear Quig, a known characteristic of water. It is interesting that Fan has such an attachment to the feeling of being underwater that she can pull it out at a moment’s notice. The relationship Fan has with water and water has with life/death could also allude to the future of Fan’s baby and/or Reg.