Summary Of Isabel Fish By Julie Orringer

Sibling Rivalry: A Literary Analysis of Julie Orringer Short Story

Although siblings may be close in age, they do not understand what each other are feeling and so they tend to fight over differences in each other’s lives. They cannot see where their emotions are coming from and how powerful these emotions are. But fights should not be able to tear a family apart, every day is a new day to start again. In the short story “ The Isabel Fish” by Julie Orringer it follows the everyday life of the siblings Sage and Maddy after a tragic car accident. This accident kills Maddy's “friend” and Sage’s girlfriend, Isabel. After the death of Isabel, they have both become closed off and angry in their mainstream lives. With the inability to express how

She finally gets angry at Sage by blurting out and saying “you're such a dickhead.’ He takes the pack of cigarettes from me and stuffs it into his pockets. ‘You can't just not mention the fish Sage” (25). Maddy finally earns the courage to confront Sage about what he did to the fish and truly admits how mad she has been at Sage for how he has been treating her. He has been rude and cruel to Maddy and she has taken it without a complaint for the past few months. But he finally took it to the next level by hurting something that was special to her and was her school work. She couldn't hold in her rage any longer and decisively tells him how he is acting is not ok. In a way, Maddy realizes putting the fish to rest in the pond, gives her peace about the whole situation. And gives her the courage to tell Sage the truth of the matter and admit “You make me wish I died instead of her” (26). She is communicating her true feeling with Sage after months of hiding the truth about the accident. She expresses the guilt Sage has put on her since the beginning. This is tremendous progress because they are finally able to talk to each other and learn how they have both been impacted by the incident. She is letting him know how hard her life has been because of him especially with the weight of Isabel's death on her shoulders. She was already in pain when Sage attempted to make it worse on purpose. But even through all this she tries to see his point of view and says “I know he still misses Isabel” (25). The author is trying to explain how the accident not only strongly affected Maddy's life, but hurt everyone around her, especially Sage. Death can change a person and it deeply affected both siblings. They were hurt in a way no one can imagine and are finding a way to