Related: Literature MOC
Contempt of younger generations from older people stem from jealousy and no willingness to fight for their happiness
In the short story White Water, Blue Ocean by Linda Raquel Nieves Pérez, the family is cursed by the sea to have white sea foam coming from their mouth and eyes whenever they tell direct lies. It’s revealed that an ancestor of the Garcia family fell in love with the Ocean, but had to lie to her family so she (the ancestor), wouldn’t be killed. She was married to someone else. In heartbreak, the Ocean placed a “curse” on the family so that no one in the family ever had to lie for other people.
What was meant to be a freeing gift was twisted into a curse by later generations. Gabriel, a non gender Garcia born as “Patricia,” starts hearing the voice of the Ocean that the rest of the family tried to ignore and forget. Their abuela resents them for their identity. When Gabriel meets the Ocean, abuela finds them afterward and confesses that she detested Gabriel because existing and going against the grain seemed effortless to them.
How much supposed hate from older people is actually just badly processed jealousy? It’s oxymoronic in a way, to live through harsh conditions and being miserable, and then detesting their children and grandchildren who don’t need to face such horrors.
References
- Short story: White Water, Blue Ocean by Linda Raquel Nieves Pérez, published in Reclaim the Stars. Read in The Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy 2023