She is immortal. This is proven when she is left behind on the train when her man is arrested for smuggling her onboard. Moved from the tank to the engine room, the wave becomes steam and finds her way to a place not mentioned to wait for her man s return. Paz describes the wave s insatiable appetite for attention and understanding in an almost unimaginable way. He gives the wave a personality all her own as if to point out that no emotions like hers exist in the human realm.
Water is in constant motion and becomes riled when attacked by wind and lightening.
It reacts and becomes tempestuous and the reader can see where the wave might resemble a human woman. The wave can in some ways be exactly like a woman. As water, she can envelop the man, lapping and devouring him, and then trying to control him with demands and desperation. The man in the story tries to please the wave, but his attempt only frustrates him. The wave knows little about the man and how to love him.