A Review on Hidden Grief and Unvoiced Emotions in Khaled Hosseini's "Sea Prayer": A Critical Study

e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 09 September 2025 International Journal of Research (IJR) Received: 20 September 2025 426 Revised: 25 September 2025 Accepted:28 September 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17094712 A Review on Hidden Grief and Unvoiced Emotions in Khaled Hosseini’s “Sea Prayer”: A Critical Study Dr. G.V.S. Ananta Lakshmi Professor & Head, Dept. of English, Anurag University, Hyderabad, Telangana, India-500088 [email protected] Out of many literary forms, poetry with its crispy and crunchy form always occupied the top position and it poets surface truth or act as healers channelize grief, suffering, and silence into words that comfort and console the readers. Being a prolific writer with his unparalleled expression of deep thoughts, Khaled Hosseini throws a light on the aftermath of a war. He portrays with subtility the little desires which are suppressed for young children who are in refugee camps in a country. The long poem of ‗Sea Prayer,‘ is the reflection of childhood by a father sitting in front of the sea while explaining to his son before embarking the boat. The country affected by war and the dented childhood of children is picturized to the reader. Even though the child character Marwan never speaks up, the reader can understand the anguish and the concern of his father and through his words father makes the child to dive deep into the days of happiness without war. Father takes Marwan back into his own childhood. explains little Marwan that when he was a boy, how they used to spread their mattress on the roof of their grandfather's farmhouse. Father's description of nature stands like a beautiful painting created by an artist and creates a good feeling in the reader's mind. Mention of the local fruits like Persimmon proves that the writers never fall from the sky, but they are born from the society and stand as reflection of the nature around them and contemporary society of their ages. Though it is mentioned as an illustrated novel by Wikipedia, it appears like a long verse with five to six lines with a picture on each page illustrated by Dan Williams. It happens like a direct conversation between father and the son using personal pronouns like ‗you, I,‘ etc. It makes the reader involved in the verse and author takes the reader to travel e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 09 September 2025 International Journal of Research (IJR) Received: 20 September 2025 427 Revised: 25 September 2025 Accepted:28 September 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17094712 along with him as if he is the direct spectator watching the things happening in front of him. In every part of the talk, father strongly desires that his son Marwan would have been of a little more of age to remember the childhood things. The text uses evocative language and imagery to depict a child's perspective on war, loss, and the search for home amidst the backdrop of conflict and displacement. The expressions or phrases like ―a thousand boyhood dams‖ takes the reader to the imaginary world of children and how easily they construct the dams. By using the pronouns like ‗us‘ refers to ‗Muslims‘ author relates himself with protagonist through the world of the prayer place ‗mosque‘ and the Muslims religion tolerance is explicable when father's character says ‗our Christian neighbors.‘ The protagonist father mentions the mother's character often in the novel but her direct dialogue with her son is not found and father tries to create good image of mother in the eyes of his son when he falls into the recollection of past memories. The lines ‗but that life seems like a dream now even to me like some long-dissolved rumor‘ sounds sad and feels melancholic about the dream that had faded out long back. The protagonist takes the reader to a little serious scene of protest and siege which earlier saw the pleasant, bustling and adorned old city streets selling Spices, Fruits, Fresh produce bread and herbs. The only three lines in the next page with only six words takes into the change in the scenario. As the wages of words like bombs, starvation, burials give a very deep picture of the war strewn country where the author comes from, the order gave every clear and real picture of the situation in that country because of bombs blast led to starvation and the person died will be buried and the number of burials will increase. The child Marwan is very well aware of all the wars related things. Father is clear that the son knows what is a bomb crater. The poem in the words holds a candle to the inherent meaning that a bomb crater which is a big hole can be turned as a swimming hole. The child is learning about dark blood finding out the classmates, mother and sister in the narrow gaps which is not a normal scene and sounds abnormal. The situation in the refugee camps, the living conditions and the war strewn country, men like Afghans, Somalis, Iraqis, Eritreans and Syrians are brought in front of the reader's eyes. The ―sunrise‖ in Sea Prayer is a symbol of hope and peace, showing the dream of a new beginning without war. It suggests the e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 09 September 2025 International Journal of Research (IJR) Received: 20 September 2025 428 Revised: 25 September 2025 Accepted:28 September 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17094712 possibility of normalcy returning to refugees who have lost everything. The line ―all of us in search of home‖ reflects the suffering of displaced people. It shows how war destroys houses which are blasted and devastated by bombs and forces families to wander in search of safety, shelter, and belonging. Together, these images highlight the deep pain of refugees who long for peace and stability but carry the heavy burden of losing their homes and normal lives. "Sea Prayer" explores the universal themes of hope, despair, faith, and the refugee experience through the lens of a father's love and a child's perspective. The author mirrors that the refugees are the uninvited, it hints that refugees are never allowed into the society and they are treated as outsiders and the governments and local people are suspicious of refugees and people living in refugee camps. Refugees are uninvited guests facing closed borders due to economic concerns. Author Khaled mentions that we are the uninvited, hence that countries are not ready to give shelter to refugees and people from war countries as they are worried that refugees are burden on country's economy. Taking the misfortune somewhere else indicates the countries not opening gates to refugees and we are uninvited. The father's character plays crucial role in giving their confidence to his son and it is implied that for every parent, their sons and daughters look beautiful and cute likewise Marwan's father also feels that his son eyelashes are like calligraphy which are carefully carved, ‗asking the son to hold my hand nothing bad will happen‘ indicates the universal the gamut of children feeling confident and strong believing firmly that no other person in the world is more stronger than his father the phrases like ‗a father's tricks‘ will hint the reader that characteristic features of father are universal. Refugees crossing the sea in a boat is overloaded, boats against all odds and storms is depicted by Hosseini through the expression ‗how deep the sea and how vast, how indifferent the powers of prayer and belief in God turns out as the ultimate destiny, ‗the hope in the God is revealed as the protagonist says he assumed that the vessels are steered by God himself because the voyage is in the troubled waters, is to be safeguarded by the Almighty because the shores are invisible. The last lines ‗how I pray the sea knows‘ it sounds philosophical and the sea is treated as if it got the heart to feel, the sea waters can easily swallow the huge ships permanently into its belly where no traces are available and the reminiscence remain underwater forever. e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 09 September 2025 International Journal of Research (IJR) Received: 20 September 2025 429 Revised: 25 September 2025 Accepted:28 September 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17094712 When the human being loses his hope and becomes desperate his last hope will be the God and he strongly believes that some miracle will happen or the savior will appear to take him away from troubles. The ‗Sea Prayer‘ a long poetic piece of expression stands as a mirror for the travel made by refugees how the life of children in the war prone countries is affected is described very well. The author depicts the mind of a father in simple lines and the words stand as bricks to build the castle. The word ‗prayer‘ stands as the pre-runner throughout the literary work from the title to the last line the ‗sea prayer‘ title is symbolic of the life's journeys of a human being and also can be interpreted as prayer by the sea and it is justified as the author expresses in the last lines that how I pray the sea knows and portrays his strong faith in God. The work turns out as a philosophical piece of artistry carefully sculpted by the author Khaled, no extravaganza of words or descriptions are found in the book as simple lines and simple words give very deep meaning, even though the entire work sounds little melancholic, two contradicting feelings are expressed by the author at a time that is hope and the despair. Author tries to layer is permission with a ray of hope while instilling confidence in his child where all the journey of life is depicted in a picturesque way. On the whole Hosseini‘s expertise is experienced in taking the reader along with him from the war strewn places to the sea voyage to reach the destination a land of hope. The sea is personified and glorified by the author. Works Cited Hosseini, Khaled. Sea Prayer. Illustrated by Dan Williams, Riverhead Books, 2018. — Primary source. The short illustrated text serving as the main literary basis for your critical study. Hosseini, Khaled. ―Stories Remain Our Best Teachers of Empathy.‖ Time, Sept. 2018, https://time.com/5382582/khaled-hosseini-sea-prayer/. — Interview where Hosseini discusses the inspiration for Sea Prayer and the Syrian refugee crisis. e-ISSN: 2348-6848 p-ISSN: 2348-795X Vol. 12 Issue 09 September 2025 International Journal of Research (IJR) Received: 20 September 2025 430 Revised: 25 September 2025 Accepted:28 September 2025 Copyright  authors 2025 DOI: HTTPS://DOI.ORG/10.5281/ZENODO.17094712 Çevik, Yasemin. ―Trauma in Refugee Narrative: Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini.‖ Transynergy Journal, vol. 2, no. 1, 2020, pp. 22–30. — Scholarly article analyzing trauma and displacement through a psychological lens. Kadavan, A. S. ―Journey to Death: Fictionalizing the Syrian Refugee Crisis in Khaled Hosseini‘s Sea Prayer.‖ International Journal of English Language, Literature and Translation Studies (IJELTS), vol. 8, no. 3, 2021, pp. 145–51. — Academic discussion of Sea Prayer as a fictional representation of real-world tragedy. ―A Review of Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini.‖ International Journal of English Language, Literature and Translation Studies (IJELTS), 2023, https://www.ijeltsjournal.org/. — Contemporary critical review offering perspectives on grief and empathy. ―Teacher Review: Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini.‖ Five Senses Education, 2024, https://www.fivesenseseducation.com.au/. — Pedagogical perspective on how the text conveys refugee grief to younger readers. Hamilton, I. J. ―Understanding Grief and Bereavement.‖ British Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 208, no. 1, 2016, pp. 88–89. — Foundational article outlining key models and understandings of grief and bereavement. Guldin, Marita B. ―The Integrated Process Model of Loss and Grief.‖ Death Studies, vol. 48, no. 2, 2024, pp. 150–62. — Modern theoretical framework explaining grief as a continuous process; useful for psychological grounding. Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth. On Death and Dying. Macmillan, 1969. — Classic work introducing the five stages of grief; foundational but open to critique.