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Essay / Analysis of Fish by Joanne Harris - 838
The short story “Fish” by Joanne Harris is about the young and successful protagonist, Jack, who marries the young and wealthy antagonist, Melissa. To celebrate their honeymoon, Jack chooses to take his new bride to a city in Italy called Naples. There, Jack has the chance to get to know Melissa better, as well as himself. In "Fish", Joanne Harris shows how Jack is able to reconnect with his past and his true self after arriving in Naples with Melissa for their honeymoon. The life that Jake leads before, in England, the one before coming to Naples, is a materialistic life. A. Jack marries Melissa for the same reason she marries him. This is because she is from a wealthy family and he is a successful young man. Marriage was even “the first step in his long-term plan, and much would depend on whether he could keep Melissa and her family sweet” (Harris, 251). In order to stay attached to a rich family, he would have to treat them well and show his value to his family. Upon arriving in Naples, Jack is still focused on obtaining Melissa's wealth and not on the honeymoon. After their first argument upsets Jack, he remembers why he married her and that "there's no point getting your foot in the door if the next thing you do is stick it in your mouth" ( 251). Through this passage, Jack tells himself to calm down, so that his plan does not fail even though he has progressed perfectly until now. This plan may lead to more wealth and a better reputation than he already has among his colleagues, whom he cares highly about. This is why Jack never told anyone at work about his love of food, since they “all seemed to live on coffee and filters” (251). He was not... middle of paper... a real sun” (248). The literary technique used in this passage is imagery since the description forms images in the reader's mind. Jack proves that he buys into what Rosa stands for when he begins paying more attention to her than to Melissa. He does so by ordering more food, to which Melissa states, "Damn, Jack, you knew I wanted to leave!" (257). Jack not only rejected the materialistic world, but he also embraced a new one. In order to rediscover his true self, Jack went through the materialistic world which led him to change and return to the world where he feels happy and belongs. To achieve happiness, Jack had first married Melissa for her wealth. Then he leaves for Naples, where he discovers the differences between him and his wife. After that, he realized that they didn't belong together since they were both suited to two different worlds..