Michael Alliant’s secret goldfish had never been a secret.
The incident happened long ago, but nobody ever seemed to remember. Except for Michael. After all these years, every piece of the pain was carved in his memory, as if he was always there, always making the mistake. He was eleven, an appropriate age to start to learn things.
It all started with an early evening of September, on the day Michael bought his favorite pet, a goldfish. It was nothing special as a common goldfish: dark eyes, golden and orange fish scales, a triangular tail, and a silly look with a pouted mouth. It was a female, but Michael named her David.
Since a small age, Michael had hated everything around himself. He was always ignored in the silent family. Everyone at school thought he was a loser due to his quietness. He needed freedom, real freedom. He also needed a true friend, a friend who could understand his world. After several intense auditions amongst all kinds of things in Michael’s mind, David received this honor of being Michael’s friend with her great personality and innocence.
No one knew about David the goldfish except Michael himself. Michael kept her as a secret. David was first kept in a circular fish bowl, a small one. Michael filled it with water and placed it under his bed.
Everyday after school, Michael would rush to his room excitedly, close the door gently with 200% extra caution, and pull out the bowl from the bed to see his secret friend. He would complain and moan to David about how bad school was, how he failed his tests, and how he had missed David during the day. David was indeed a good friend. She kept listening, and never disagreed with Michael. Sometimes she would mumble words like “blub” or “glu” t...
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... He often dreamed about how amazing it would be if David could swim in the lakes, view the world with her watery eyes, and tell him how happy she was with all the “blub”s and “glu”s. Oh, he was so happy.
Michael stood at the door, he was ready for this wonderful birthday gift. He stepped outside.
Everything was frozen. Time, space, feelings, and most importantly, the water David was in. Ice, just like what it did to all other things, locked David in the bowl.
Michael couldn’t think. He stormed back into the house, and put the bowl on the table.
His heart was like the ice on the bowl, broken to pieces. His precious friend, David, was frozen to death.
He still could not speak, but eventually he managed to murmur some words in a way David used to do.
“Things are never the way I wish.” He said, and there lied David the Secret Goldfish.
Michael needed someone to care for. On page 76, Michael goes to a pet store and gets a pet crab. The reason he gets the crab is because he is very lonely. While he is living with his aunt he doesn’t have anyone to care
David was a young boy who got beaten everyday. He was very skinny, bony, and was beaten everyday. David wore threadbare clothing, he looked as if he hadn't changed or washed his clothes in months. This was the truth, his mother starved him and abused him. She never washed his clothes to embarrass him. This worked at first when people started making fun of him, but David got used to it. Bullies started beating the scrawny boy up everyday, it became a routine, but he was so frail and weak from being starved he couldn?t fight back. David looked muddled, he had a very terrible physical journey that made him mentally stronger.
He lived a perfect life and was blessed with perfect parents. Everyday is a new adventure filled with fun. He loved his life and his family. After Abuse: a. David came to believe that there was no god because "No God would leave me like this" Pg.131. He had totally disconnected himself from all the physical pain.
is a fight just to survive for the next day . As a child David is taught a very harsh way of
At first, David cares that his mother treats him badly. After awhile, he doesn’t care and becomes apathetic.
1. In the book, the father tries to help the son in the beginning but then throughout the book he stops trying to help and listens to the mother. If I had been in this same situation, I would have helped get the child away from his mother because nobody should have to live like that. The father was tired of having to watch his son get abused so eventually he just left and didn’t do anything. David thought that his father would help him but he did not.
...s feeling of achievement at completing school is shown. There are close ups of the Tuohy’s with Ms Sue and Sam showing feelings of attachment with Michael. Moreover, the mid-shots of the teacher’s face highlights that he is accepted in the school community too. As such, Michael, like Billy has achieved a new sense of belonging due to connections with new people and places.
When David described the Sealand woman he described her as the image of perfection. His description of her was so perfect that it described her flaws. She was too perfect, as though artificial. She communicates on a higher level as him so that he can’t understand and does not worry about his troubles.
He tries to explain that in order to be happy, one must put himself in other people's shoes, to know that there is another world that you must enter that revolves around another individual. A person must learn that he must look at both sides of the road before crossing the road of judgment. Meaning that a person must think twice before judging someone due to the fact that you are incapable off reading other people's minds thus you cannot make a judgment about how tough their lives are and the daily hardships that they have to put up with. Before you start complaining about how long the line at the store is, realise that you are not the only person waiting in line and that there are other people waiting in line too just like you are. David uses plenty of metaphors and examples in order to further explain to the audience his statement. One example he uses in the beginning of the story is the fish example, where two young fish meet an older fish who asks them "how is the water", the two young fish then go on to reply by saying "what the hell is water?". After reading through the story, one realises that what the author means by 'water' is that in this scene, water is the representation of life. Thus you can think of it as the older fish asking the
Throughout the novel Swallowing Stones, Michael is faced with problem after problem. Each problem that occurs, he must make choice after choice. Michael is faced with a position that he must make the choice that will change the course of his indefinitely. Michael soon finds out the mystery death of Charlie Ward. Soon Michael starts asking himself the question “Could he be Charlie Ward’s Killer?” Michael is sure of it. He is now faced with the ultimate consequences that he must face. He knows that if he turns himself he might be let off easy. But then Joe gets him thinking about how easy it would be to just get away with it. He knows that there is know way that they could ever trace that bullet back to his Grandfathers antique rifle, or could they.
David's deviation makes him more intelligent in many different ways. Through-out the novel David teaches himself how to send thought-shapes. He figures out what to do and starts communicating with the others. Over time David realizes his ability to send thought-shapes is a blasphemy and that he must keep it a secret or he will be sent away to the Fringes. He understands the consequences for his deviation and does everything in his power from getting himself or the group discovered. After Uncle Axel explained to David how his telepathy must be kept a secret David narrates,
Michael’s life began in Brooklyn, New York, on February 17th, 1963, where his parents James and Delores always stood by his side. His father, known for his unending support, always gave Michael advice on what to do, never letting him down. His mother made sure Michael headed in the right direction with everything he did. As a child he enjoyed athletics, engaging in basketball, baseball and football. He practiced baseball with his dad, persistently playing catch whenever time allowed. Baseball was his favorite. Even at a young age he had already tasted success by being voted Most Valuable Player on his team. “That was the first big accomplishment in my life,” Michael recalled (Harris, Laurie).
teacher. After hearing his father say that, David feels that he has to hide his
“They were pleading with me to save them, silently promising that they could offer me more fun....You could throw away an entire cow more quietly. I then carefully put the fish eyes into my pocket and went into the house” ( page 3 paragraph 5,6). This shows how David came to grow the attachment to the pair of fish eyes that his father told him to throw away otherwise there would be consequences and he would have to eat a bowl of fish eye soup. Another quote is “When I lowered, this foul article of clothing would come to rest directly on my brother’s pillow. A second dreadful sock was rigged so that it could be pulled across his pillow”.(page 1 paragraph 6). This part shows how David got his revenge back on his brother because he was constantly pranking him every time in his sleep so the consequence was that David
David played his harp for Saul and made him feel better when life was getting