What does "the sea" represent in the novel, The Wrong End of the Telescope?

The sea is representative of transformation and fluidity. Mina connects it with her own gender transitioning through a subtle reference to Aphrodite, who was born from sea foam formed by the severed genitals of Uranus, and also to the innocent, formless state of childhood, as she suggests that she was “raised by the sea” (33). The sea additionally appears as a place of possibility and change. Mina’s life is altered by her experiences in Lesbos with Sumaiya and her family, who first appear to her on a boat that lands on a beach there.