The Siren Song: A Symbol of Female Power and Resistance in The Sirens

What Is the Siren Song?

The siren song in The Sirens is a ballad passed down through generations of women. Its lyrics tell of a maiden who lures a sea-captain with her voice and robs him of his coins and sword. The song first appears when the convict women are aboard the Naiad, crossing to Australia. Mary recalls that her father taught it when she was small, and the other women join in, their voices growing strong enough to feel as if they might lift the ship to safety.

The ballad is not merely a folk tune—it becomes a literal siren song. The women who sing it can summon rescue, express grief, or lure men to their fate. It is a tool of collective female resistance, passed from mother to daughter and sister to sister.

Where the Song Recurs

The siren song appears at several key moments in the narrative:

Aboard the Naiad: Mary and Eliza sing it with the other convict women to calm their terror during the storm. The song temporarily lifts their spirits and bonds them together.
Jess’s childhood: After giving birth to Lucy, Jess whispers the lyrics to herself as a private lullaby, a twisted comfort for her own pain and separation from her daughter.
Town folklore: Residents of Comber Bay claim to hear women’s voices singing from the waves at night, especially near the site of the Naiad wreck. This legend grows after local men begin disappearing.
Melody’s experience: Melody tells Lucy that while in the cave, a protective, female force sang to her, keeping her safe from harm.
The shipwreck transformation: When the Naiad founders on the reef, Mary and Eliza sing the song as they transform into merrows, using the melody to guide themselves and others to the surface.
Jess’s final swim: In the climax, Jess hears the siren song from within herself, realizing she has become part of its legacy.

How the Song’s Meaning Changes

The siren song evolves dramatically over the course of the novel. Initially, it is a comfort—a memory of home and a way to endure the horrors of the convict voyage. Mary describes the sensation of singing as lifting the ship above the waves, a brief escape from despair.

For Jess, the song is a private expression of trauma. She whispers it alone in her room, unable to face her baby daughter, using the lyrics to articulate her own sense of loss and unworthiness. The song here is a burden, a reminder of what she has abandoned.

During the shipwreck, the song transforms into a catalyst for physical change. Mary feels her gills open and her spine burst into fins as she sings; the melody unlocks the merrow nature that has always lain dormant. From this point, the song becomes a weapon. Mary and Eliza use it to lure men to their deaths in Comber Bay, enacting vengeance against those who represent colonial violence. By the epilogue, Mare admits to killing local men, showing the song has become outright predatory.

For the modern characters, the song represents inheritance and empowerment. Jess hears it from within herself after killing Cameron in self-defence, while Lucy decides to write the stories of the Naiad women, reclaiming the ballad as a narrative of survival.

Character and Theme Connections

The siren song links the novel’s major characters and themes:

Mary and Eliza: The song is their shared heritage from Mam. It binds them as sisters and becomes the instrument of their transformation. Their singing together during the shipwreck and later in the cave reinforces their unbreakable bond.
Jess and Lucy: As modern descendants, they inherit the song through dreams and visceral memories. Jess’s art exhibition is titled The Sirens, and she incorporates the song into her paintings. Lucy’s decision to write the women’s stories is a literary reclamation of the ballad.
Sisterhood and family bonds: The song is always sung in harmony—by the twins, by the other convict women, and later by Jess and Lucy in the ocean. It symbolizes the strength found in female relationships.
Identity and self-discovery: For Mary, singing the song unlocks her true merrow identity. For Jess, hearing it from within confirms her connection to the supernatural lineage.
Trauma and memory: The song carries the memory of Mam and of the collective suffering on the Naiad. It is both a trigger for painful recollections and a means of processing them.
Colonization and oppression: The ballad originates in Ireland, a colonized land. In Australia, it becomes a tool of resistance against the colonial system that transported the women. Mary rejects the land because of its colonial violence, choosing to remain in the sea.
Transformation and monstrosity: The song effects the physical transformation into merrows, which is both monstrous and liberating. The women gain gills, webs, and fins, but they also gain power and agency.

4 Study Questions with Answers

1. How does the siren song function as a coping mechanism for the women on board the Naiad?

The song provides emotional relief and solidarity. During the storm, Mary joins Eliza’s singing to calm her fear, and the other women add their voices. The sensation of singing together “seemed they might lift the ship above the waves,” suggesting a collective transcendence of their immediate terror. It connects them to their Irish homeland and to each other, temporarily alleviating the despair of transportation.

2. What is the relationship between the siren song and the theme of colonization?

The song is a pre-colonial Irish folk tradition that the women carry with them to Australia. Once in the new colony, it becomes a means of resistance against the colonizers. The women use the song to lure and drown men, especially those who commit violence or represent colonial authority. Mary’s decision to remain in the sea rather than set foot on land is a direct rejection of colonial occupation. The song thus subverts the power structures that transported them.

3. How does the meaning of the siren song change for Jess over time?

As a teenager after Lucy’s birth, Jess whispers the song as a private lament, using it to express her pain and isolation. It is a burden tied to her guilt and her feeling of being cursed. Later, after killing Cameron, she hears the song from within herself, signaling that she has fully integrated its power. Her art exhibition, The Sirens, reinterprets the song visually, turning it into a statement of female strength. The song shifts from a mark of trauma to a source of identity.

4. In what way does the siren song represent female collective resistance?

The song is transmitted across generations—from Mam to Mary and Eliza, and then to Jess and Lucy. It is never sung alone; even Jess’s private lullaby echoes the communal ballad. During the shipwreck, all the women join in, and later Mary vows to “mother all the girls who will come to the cave,” offering protection and vengeance. The song is a call to unity against male violence and colonial oppression. It embodies the idea that women can protect one another through shared inheritance and song.