Question

In at least 100 words, describe the characters’ relationship to the carp throughout Wang’s “The Carp.”

Answer 1

The characters' relationship to the carp changes over the course of Wang's poem, "The Carp." At the beginning of the poem, before the father is beaten and imprisoned, the characters view the carp in a positive way. The day the speaker was born, we are told her father caught a 20-pound carp. At this point, the characters view the carp as a good omen, a sign of blessing. By the end of the poem, fishing for carp no longer makes the father happy, because now carp remind him of pain and suffering. At the end of the poem, the father only catches small fish. Over the course of the poem, the characters' relationship to the carp changes, moving from a positive relationship to a negative one. That is because the carp comes to symoblize suffering and injustice.