SYMBOLIC INTERPRETATION OF THE CONCEPT “WATER” IN A. VERGESE'S NOVEL “THE COVENANT OF WATER”

Plotnikova Ekaterina Andreevna, Pirogova Maria Nikolaevna, Valeeva Diana Bulatovna, Landage Manish Savleram

The article is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of the concept of “water” as a structuring element in Abraham Vergese's novel “The Covenant of Water” (2023). The purpose of the study is to identify and interpret the multi-level semantics of water, its role in shaping the plot (illness), developing key themes (heredity, trauma, medicine, nature, faith, and science), and the symbolic system of the work. The research methodology is based on the principles of conceptual and symbolic analysis of a literary text, using elements of thematic and historical-cultural approaches. The results demonstrate that the concept of “water” in the novel is not just an element of description, but a dynamic, polysemantic concept and symbol that encapsulates the evolution of the entire narrative from the embodiment of a fatal curse to the bearer of liberating knowledge and the “covenant” of resilience. The analysis confirms the central role of water in organizing the novel's fictional world and revealing its main ideological content: the triumph of scientific knowledge and human resilience over tribal beliefs about ignorance and fatal illness.

Keywords:Abraham Verghese, The Covenant of Water, the concept of water, the symbol of water, literary symbolism, medical narrative, family saga, Indian literature, and postcolonial literature