The bearded sailor that S. later calls Maelstrom reveals that the protagonist’s name is S. S. is relieved to finally have a name, although the name “S” means nothing to him. Nevertheless, any amount of knowledge is a blessing to the amnesiac, particularly knowledge pertaining to his identity. S. still does not know who he is his or where he came from, but at least he has a name.

The bearded man tells S. that the ship does not have a name, or that if it used to have one it doesn’t anymore. When S. inquires about the sailor’s name the man tells S. that the entire crew got rid of their names. “Names’s trouble,” he says.

When the sailor speaks his words are written in italics, not in quotation marks as dialogue is usually depicted on the page. It is as if the sailor is communicating to S. in some way other than conventional speech.

Jen complains that she hates it when people call her “Jenny.” Even her friends insist on calling her Jenny, and she is beginning to feel fed up with them. She is glad that Eric still refers to her as Jen.

The issue of identity is crucial to S., but it is also important to Jen and Eric. Jen wants to assert herself as “Jen,” and wants other people to respect that choice of identity. Although Jen and Eric have their memories, unlike S., they are still grappling with who they want to be in the world and how they want the world to view them.