Wave by sonali deraniyalagala is a poweful recreation of the overpowering forces of nature.

Another important thematic point made in this story is the strength of the tsunami that destroyed Deraniyagala’s life. It was called the greatest natural disaster of all times and it killed an estimated quarter of a million people. Still, it was only years after the Sri Lanka tsunami that Deraniyagala could appreciate what a strong force she had been up against.

The day of the tsunami, Deraniyagala never really completely understood what had happened. She had only known that the ocean was unusually close to their hotel room. As she, Steve, and the boys were trying to escape in the Jeep, Steve had seen something that had terrified him. Deraniyagala did not see what he saw because the Jeep turned over before she could look. It is assumed that Steve saw the wave, estimated to be 30 feet high, which had come in after them.

While she was in the water fighting for her life, Deraniyagala acknowledged the strength of the force in which she was held. “Yet I had to surrender to this unknown chaos. I could sense that. I am going to die, I am nothing against whatever it is that has me in its grip” (11). It was not until later she learned the tsunami had probably carried her two miles inland and then back out again before she had managed to catch hold of a branch.

It was not until there is a tsunami in Japan that Deraniyagala seemed to really appreciate what had happened to her and to understand the force of the tsunami. Although she was horrified by the video footage of the tsunami in Japan, she saw for the first time what she had been caught up in. She admits to herself that she had never understood the scale of what had happened in Sri Lanka until she saw the footage of the Japan tsunami.