Symbolism In The Secret Goldfish By Means

Symbolism “The Secret Goldfish” The short story by Means is about Teddy’s pet gold fish which symbolizes the struggles the family encountered. Teddy notice that he cannot see the fish and calls out to his mother to clean the bowel. The mother is shocked by how deprived or neglected the fish living conditions has become. She cleans the fish bowel, then after cleaning the fish bowel she would stop by and admire the fish. The fish then would become neglected again not knowing the troubles that happen outside of his bowel. The mother had become neglected as well by her husband. She would be viewed in the story as being clouded like the fish bowel. The narrator uses the goldfish to symbolize the main character struggles within her family. When

Yes, the fish was neglected by the entire family. Fish had out grown his bowel and the son saw that he had out grown the bowel and thought it was funny. The mother was there for fish to change his water and get him a larger filtered tank. But fish became neglected again swimming in his own filth and trying to grasp the small bits of air he could. “The murk thickened. In the center of the darkness, Fish swam in random patterns and became a sad, hopeless entity curled into his plight.” (218). The mother did her normal routine of cleaning the bowel. One day she just stopped to admire Fish, she saw that fish was injured but still looked healthy. “Along his sides, he had the usual scars of an abused fish, a wound or two, a missing scale, a new, smaller growth of some kind down near his anal fin. But otherwise he seemed big, brutally healthy, still blinking off the shock of the sudden glare.” (219). Before neglection of her husband, the mother/wife had experienced neglected by her father who thought critically about her mother. “Dumbest animal on earth, she remembered her father adding. Nothing dumber than a carp. Except maybe a catfish, or your goddamn mother.” (216). She was neglected by her father because he did not care about her wishes of keeping Fred. The husband was surprising always away at work and would come home at strange hours of the night. The wife became suspicious but did not ask why he was coming in at