Water Symbol in How Far You Have Come: Cleansing, Freedom, and New Beginnings
Water as a Living Symbol in How Far You Have Come
Water appears throughout Morgan Harper Nichols’s memoir as lakes, rivers, and ocean, each body of water carrying its own emotional weight. Across different life stages—from childhood road trips to adult reckonings—water becomes a recurring touchstone for cleansing, freedom, and the possibility of new beginnings. The narrator does not simply observe water; she enters it, imagines others crossing it, and returns to it decades later. By tracing these moments, we see how water functions as both a literal landscape and a psychological mirror, reflecting her struggles and her capacity to begin again.
Cleansing: West Point Lake and the Washing Away of Failure
In the Alabama chapter, the narrator stands on the Alabama shoreline of West Point Lake, a body of water that straddles two states. She recalls how the Georgia side of the lake had often been a refuge for her, a place to “wash away my spiraling thoughts.” The lake’s waves, she observes, have a cleansing quality—they erase footprints in the sand, and she imagines they could wash away all memory of her past mistakes. This is not a passive metaphor; she wades into the water fully clothed, then plunges beneath the surface to confront the memories that haunt her: failing out of college, the professor’s harsh words, the weight of her parents’ sacrifices.
The act of submerging herself becomes a ritual of purification. She describes tumbling underwater, losing her sense of direction, and then surging back to the surface gasping for air. The water does not erase her failure, but it allows her to see it differently. She emerges with the realization that “your failures do not define you” and that she can begin again. The lake, then, is not just a setting but an agent of transformation. Its cleansing power lies in its ability to hold her grief and then release her, leaving her “made better under those waters.”
Freedom: The Mississippi River and Imagined Liberation
In the Mississippi chapter, water takes on a more historical and imaginative dimension. During a nighttime drive toward the Mississippi River, the narrator recalls an encyclopedia entry about an 1860 map of Issaquena County, which showed plantations and slave quarters, along with a photograph of an unnamed girl with plaited hair. As the car approaches the bridge, she imagines that girl and her mother fleeing through the woods toward the river, seeking freedom. The river itself becomes a symbol of escape and hope.
The narrator’s mother, uncomfortable driving over the bridge, pulls over and lets her father take the wheel. As they cross, the narrator peers down into the dark water. She had expected it to be polluted with grease and fuel, but instead she sees it as “a piece of black velvet, smooth and luxurious.” She consciously chooses to see the river’s “protecting waves that brought so many people into freedom.” Even without knowing the specific stories of enslaved Black girls, she listens to the water and hears its mysteries. She decides, “Surely, surely, surely they made it across.” This act of imaginative empathy transforms the river from a physical obstacle into a testament to resilience. The water becomes a carrier of unrecorded history, and the narrator’s choice to believe in the girl’s crossing is itself a form of liberation—both for the imagined girl and for the narrator, who carries that hope forward.
New Beginnings: The Ocean and the Return to the Shore
The California chapter brings water full circle. As a child, the narrator visits California with her family and dreams of reaching the ocean, but the trip ends before she can. She tastes the air and listens to seagulls, vowing, “One day I’ll reach those blue waves.” Twenty years later, after her mother’s chronic illness worsens and the family moves west for medical care, the narrator finally returns. She drives to the shore with only a pencil and blank paper, and there she sketches a sea turtle making its way to the water. She writes the words “IT IS WELL” in capital letters.
The ocean here represents a homecoming and a new beginning. The narrator describes the water as “wide and vast, unforgiving in her might and soothing in her roar.” It humbles her, reminding her of the larger ecosystem and her place within it. The sea turtle, which she had imagined as a child, becomes a symbol of brave, uncertain movement toward belonging. The ocean’s blue is “calling her,” and in sketching it, she reclaims her artistic identity. This is not a dramatic plunge like the lake, but a quiet, steady arrival. The water offers not cleansing but confirmation: she has found her home in art, and she can begin again on her own terms.
Water Across Time: A Thread of Continuity
What makes water such a powerful symbol in the memoir is its persistence across the narrator’s life. The same lake that witnessed her college failure is revisited in memory; the river she crossed as a teenager becomes a site of historical imagination; the ocean she dreamed of as a child becomes a place of adult renewal. Water connects these disparate moments, suggesting that the narrator’s relationship with it evolves as she does. In Alabama, she uses water to confront personal failure. In Mississippi, she uses it to honor the struggles of others. In California, she uses it to celebrate her own creative rebirth. Each encounter deepens her understanding of what it means to be cleansed, free, and ready to start over.
Character and Theme Connections
Water is intimately tied to the narrator’s relationships. Her mother’s discomfort with bridges and her father’s calm takeover during the Mississippi crossing highlight the family’s shared journey. The imagined girl in Mississippi is a character born from water, and the narrator’s empathy for her mirrors her own desire for freedom. The sea turtle in California is another water-bound figure, representing the narrator’s own tentative steps toward her calling.
Thematically, water aligns with several key ideas in the memoir. Its cleansing power connects to the theme of failure as a doorway to renewal, as the narrator emerges from the lake with a new sense of possibility. The Mississippi River’s role in imagined liberation speaks to imaginative empathy for unrecorded history, as the narrator fills in the gaps of a story she can never know. The ocean’s role in her artistic homecoming ties to art as self-understanding and connection, and her return to the shore reflects the search for home in an unrooted life. Water, in each case, is not just a backdrop but an active participant in her growth.
Study Questions
- How does the narrator’s relationship with water change from the Alabama chapter to the California chapter?
In Alabama, water is a place of confrontation and cleansing. She wades in and plunges under to face her failure, emerging with a renewed sense of self. In California, water is a place of quiet arrival. She does not submerge herself but stands at the shore, sketching and writing “IT IS WELL.” The shift reflects her growth from needing to actively wash away the past to being able to simply be present with it.
- What role does the Mississippi River play in the narrator’s imagination, and why does she choose to believe the girl and her mother made it across?
The river becomes a symbol of freedom and hope. The narrator imagines the enslaved girl and her mother fleeing toward it, and she consciously decides to see the water as protective rather than threatening. By believing they made it across, she honors their unrecorded story and affirms her own belief in the possibility of liberation, even when history is silent.
- How does water function as a symbol of new beginnings in the California chapter?
The ocean represents a homecoming and a fresh start. The narrator returns to the shore after twenty years, sketches a sea turtle, and writes “IT IS WELL.” The turtle’s journey to the water mirrors her own return to art and to a place where she feels she belongs. The ocean’s vastness humbles her, but it also reassures her that she can begin again.
- In what ways does water connect the narrator to other characters or to historical figures?
Water connects her to her family through shared moments like the bridge crossing, where her mother’s discomfort and father’s calm presence shape the experience. It also connects her to the imagined girl in Mississippi, whose flight across the river becomes a source of empathy and hope. The sea turtle in California is another water-bound figure, representing the narrator’s own tentative steps toward her calling. Water thus bridges personal and collective histories, linking her story to those she can only imagine.