Reader Positioning in Tahereh Mafi’s “A Very Large Expanse of Sea”

Last post, I started looking at some of the connections between G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona’s Ms. Marvel and Tahereh Mafi’s A Very Large Expanse of Sea. Today, I want to continue looking at Mafi’s novel, focusing on some of the way that it highlights white privilege and whiteness. These moments occur most notably when Shirin points out that Ocean never had to think about any of the issues that she has encountered. These moments lead, at times, to centering Ocean in the text, calling out to white readers to engage with their own privilege and perspective.

From the outset of their relationship, Ocean works to get to know Shirin as a person, but the deep rooted perceptions that surround and inform his worldview make this difficult. For all of his genuine interest, he struggles to engage with her as a person and not as, as Shirin argues at certian points, an exotic figure that he will tire of in a few weeks. During their initial messages online, Ocean gropes through the conversation asking Shirin questions that mirrors Zoe’s and Josh’s questions to Kamala in Ms. Marvel. He asks her if her parents don’t allow her to do things after school. He asks her about her hijab.

As he does this, Shirin thinks about other guys who she’d encountered. She says, “I discovered — after a great deal of embarrassment —…