Answer: To me I think her leaving home has affected her by making her sad and the simile is representing her crying or longing to go back like being home sick.
Answer: The vessel could represent her emotions and the liquid her happiness. She is showing that she feels deeply sad about being away from home, and that she's homesick. The waves, even sounding as peaceful as possible aren't enough to make her feel good.
A topic is the main idea of a writing. In this case, the topic of the essay is Yellowstone National Park because the essay talks about the national park itself.