The Fish (essay)

By Maria San Cristbal G.

He didnt fight. He hadnt fought at all. He hung a grunting weight, battered and venerable and homely I cannot stop thinking about this special character as a fish that had been through so many drawbacks that he is no longer going to fight anymore. It comes to my mind that this was his last battle at this point of the poem he thinks !this is it" I want out# as he stares his captor with his shallow and yellow eyes. $he whole picture described by %li&abeth Bishop 'fulfilled with intensifiers that appeal to our emotions' may recall us people that ha(e fought their entire life against their en(ironment" thinking e(ery time they ha(e been caught by !fishers# that they will not be happy nor free again. $he system will not allow them to swim in their own uni(erse" to )oin what they lo(e* freedom. $he poem describes the fish as a speckled being with barnacles" infested with sea'lice" with fi(e big hooks wounding his mouth and still staring at the one who has taken him out of what he needs to li(e. It seems to me that this is a mirror of the misfit the ones that do not fit in this world. I see the fish as a homeless child wondering on the streets" as a teenager whose parents do not understand" as a beaten wife" as a poor mother in charge of si+ children with a ,-./ bad paid )ob" as the hippies in the 012s trying to change the world all of them hurt and re)ected by fishers that want them out of the system in which they do not fit* !whether you change or you are out#. But the fisher in !the fish# is not like other fishers because once this woman reali&es of what she is depri(ing the fish of and of all the damage that people like her has done to the animal that she cannot stand it. $his is when (ictory comes to her I stared and stared, and victory filled up the little rented boat until everything was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow! nd I let the fish go she has finally understood that she cannot capture the fish to kill it or to keep it in a fish tank" she has made a connection with what the fish has li(ed and this is what fills her with rainbows and makes her let the fish out for a last stand. I think that when !fishers# catch these !fish like people# and reali&e of what they are doing when they are able to make a connection with these people and with their e+periences" with the fact that these people are able of being happy with (ery little 3much more happy than them in spite of being surrounded by lu+ury and !acceptance# from their pairs' they enter in a new world in which shallow things do not matter. 4urthermore" they are filled with rainbows and probably wish to be fish e(en if that means to be co(ered with rags of green weed hung down" infested with sea'lice" speckled with barnacles" with fi(e old pieces of fish.line hanging from their mouths and with the constant fear of being caught out to be either killed 5instead of !brainwashed#6 or e+hibited in fish tank. In other words* in a shallow world where feelings" freedom and caring about others are )ust words but hardly e(er a lifestyle.

4inally" I would like to include the lyrics of a song that I think the fish of the poem and the people described before !the fish of the world# would sing to their fishers e(ery time they are captured*

Redemption song (Bob Marley)

7ld pirates" yes" they rob I Sold I to the merchant ships" Minutes after they took I 4rom the bottomless pit. But my hand was made strong By the 8and of the 9lmighty. :e forward in this generation $riumphantly. :on8t you help to sing $hese songs of freedom; ' 'Cause all I ever have Redemption songs! <edemption songs. "man#ipate yourselves $rom mental slavery! %one but ourselves #an $ree our minds. =a(e no fear for atomic energy" 8Cause none of them can stop the time. =ow long shall they kill our prophets" :hile we stand aside and look; 7oh> Some say it8s )ust a part of it* :e8(e got to fulfill de book. :on8t you help to sing $hese songs of freedom; ' 8Cause all I e(er ha(e* <edemption songs <edemption songs <edemption songs. %mancipate yoursel(es from mental sla(ery ?one but oursel(es can free our mind. =a(e no fear for atomic energy" 8Cause none of them'a can'a stop'at the time. =ow long shall they kill our prophets" :hile we stand aside and look; @es" some say it8s )ust a part of it* :e8(e got to fulfill de book. :on8t you help to sing $hese songs of freedom; ' 'Cause all I ever had Redemption songs & 'll I ever had Redemption songs These songs o$ $reedom( )ongs o$ $reedom*