The narrator enters his relationship with the wave with immediate difficulty: He is burdened with the responsibility of transporting the wave in his train car, which fails and costs him a year of his life in jail. From the events the narrator conveys, she does not appear to care about his spending time in prison, but her selfish behavior is not enough of a warning for the narrator at the time. Even when he realizes that her “emptiness” smothers him, he overlooks this because he is too immersed in their passion. The joy and thrill of their secret affair costs the narrator his clarity, which makes it increasingly difficult for him to leave, even when the wave becomes violent.

It is common that people in toxic relationships abandon all others in their lives, either because they are so immersed in the relationship and feel fulfilled by their partner alone, or because their partner demands all their attention. The wave loses her community of other waves, all the familiar objects and creatures of the sea. Without them, she becomes lonely, and the narrator is unable to replace those things himself. The narrator admits that since returning home, he “had neglected my affairs” and all other relationships (32).