Preliminary thoughts on oceans

in order to whittle my paper down to a reasonable subject, I am planning on looking at oceans that the role they play in literature and some film and/or television shows. However, even though this is more specific than my previous paper, it still seems to be way too big for a 20-page paper. Here is what I have in mind thus far.

While reading Hillman, Heraclitus, and others when researching water, several thoughts came to mind. First of all, the depth of the water comes to mind initially. When one is wandering the deep, blue sea, they never know how deep it is beneath their feet (without new nifty technologic devices) and they also do not know what lies beneath. This gives the sea a degree of uncertainty. Nobody knows what evil lurks beneath and where or when it will rear its ugly head. Uncertainty also exists with the success of traveling the seas with weather. Nobody can perfectly predict the weather, and when one is traveling for a long length of time, they are bound to run into turbulent waters. Now, Heraclitus says that the soul (the Hillmanian image-soul) delights in water because it delights in death. When I read this, I thought that when one travels water, the ocean in particular, they truly are delighting in the possibility of death. No doubt after traveling the seas for a long time one becomes in tune with the method, but that possibility of death remains. It takes a certain personality, a certain bravery really, to risk ones life to travel the open seas. When you depart from the port, you never know what's coming from above or from below.

However, although an uncertainty exists with water, I must keep in mind that all elements have a duality. Yes, oceans are vast and deep and foreboding, but water also has the ability to heal and purify things. On a clear day, the ocean may not look intimidating but quite beautiful instead. I also must keep in mind that in theory we are all made up of the elements and are thus part water. We are, in some ways, one with water.

Thus far I am revisiting some books, movies and tv shows that deal with water. Bookwise, I am currently looking into The Old Man and the Sea, The Odyssey, Moby Dick, and possibly Gulliver's Travels. My fiance said the film The Abyss would work well, but I am not familiar with it and will have to look into that more. The television show Lost comes to mind as well, because in the show there is the sense that there is no way to escape; the water plays the role of a fence and anybody who attempts to leave gets pulled back to the island (although I'm going to try to stay away from sounding like I'm ripping off Ryan's thesis here). I've checked out some books from the library that would hopefully be helpful: some on travel narratives, some on Greek theory and Heraclitus. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!! I'm still trying to find my footing and am having a hard time coming up with one main point I want to make. Any suggestions there are greatly appreciated as well!!