The Moon Pool · Chapter
The Wooing of Lakla explained
Larry and Lakla openly declare their love, with Lakla playfully demonstrating her control over the deadly Yekta hydroid.
What happens
Larry and Lakla openly declare their love, with Lakla playfully demonstrating her control over the deadly Yekta hydroid. Goodwin reflects on the potential challenges of Lakla adapting to the surface world. Rador leads them to a garden terrace with a view of the crimson sea, and a shy Lakla joins them.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Loyalty
The central theme of the chapter as Larry and Lakla declare their love, with Lakla's loyalty to Larry shown through her obedience to his fear for her safety.
Science vs. the Supernatural
Goodwin scientifically identifies the Yekta as a hydroid, contrasting with Lakla's supernatural control over it.
Duality of Human Experience
The contrast between the paradise of Larry and Lakla's love and the hellish environment of Muria, as well as Goodwin's concerns about Lakla's adaptation to the surface.
Characters to notice
- Larry O'Keefe
Openly woos Lakla, calling her 'mavourneen' and 'acushla'; expresses fear for her safety when she handles the Yekta.
- Lakla
Returns Larry's affection, kisses him, and demonstrates her bond with the Yekta; later appears shy and blushing.
- Dr. Walter T. Goodwin
Observes the romance, worries about Lakla's ability to survive on the surface, and discusses the nature of the Three with Larry.
- Rador
Leads Goodwin to a scenic embrasure and announces Lakla's arrival.
- The Three
Discussed by Larry and Goodwin; Larry believes they are the Tuatha Dé and capable of love and justice.
Key passages
“is the pulse of the universe itself, the real music of the spheres of which Plato dreamed, the love that is stronger than death itself, immortal as the high gods and the true soul of all that mystery we call life.”
Love is the fundamental rhythm of the cosmos, the true harmony Plato imagined, more powerful than death, eternal like the gods, and the essence of life's mystery.
Narrator's philosophical reflection on the nature of love.
“It was a hydroid, a development of that strange animal-vegetable that, sometimes almost microscopic, waves in the sea depths like a cluster of flowers paralyzing its prey with the mysterious force that dwells in its blossom heads!”
The Yekta is a hydroid, a bizarre animal-plant that, often tiny, sways in the deep sea like a flower cluster, stunning its prey with a strange power in its blossoms.
Goodwin's scientific identification of the Yekta.