NOTES

A ground sea

The fluid undercurrent belying the solidity of this iceworld (see also III:7:20 and note) erupts with extraordinary effect, almost as an objective correlative for the "burning gush of hope" and "heart pound[ing]" remarked within Victor in the previous paragraphs. This ground-sea appears as almost a metaphor for the essentially human that even in the most extreme of circumstances cannot be repressed.