Group 6, Last Paragraph
In the last part of the poem The Fish by Elizabeth Bishop, the author makes a correlation between the aspect and feeling of the Goliath Grooper fish and the boat in which she was fishing. Reading between the last lines we can conclude that the author feels sympathy and relates herself to the wicked condition of the fish. The last could be appreciated from line 61 through 68 in which Elizabeth refers to the “five-haired beard of wisdom” that looks like “medals with their ribbons”. These words give us the idea that the fish is some kind of old veteran from multiple fishing battles. The fish have been through many things in his life as well as the boat in which the speaker is fishing. In line 66 Elizabeth says “and victory filled up the little rented boat”, these words are the key to the analogy between the fish and the boat. The word “victory” makes us thing about the battles that the fisherman, as the fish, have won in the past. Victories conduce to medals and usually victory is associated with longstanding veterans that have been successful in their carriers or that have overcome many obstacles. “[T]he little rented boat” present us again with this weak aspect of the boat relating the story of the fish with the author. In literature a ship or a boat is usually a symbol of our journey in life. “[T]he rusted engine” of the boat is that tired condition of existence in which the author may include herself, as if so many bad experiences as harsh as the sun in the beach have left her feeling with “sun-cracked thwarts”. “[T]he pool of bilge where oil had spread a rainbow around the rusted engine” give that feeling of someone bleeding from past experiences, scars of the soul that creates a rainbow, colors that spread from the negative creating and molding our personality. Our victories over our negative experiences make us who we are. “[T]he oarlocks on their strings” is also a wonderful symbol alluding to those attachments to the positive things of life that make us keep fighting. We have to consider than an oarlock is that part of the boat that holds the ropes connecting the ship with the dock in land. The author refers to the oarlocks pointing to the fact that they are still present, the connection is there, life continues, and many victories are still to come. “[T]he gunnels” came to support again that feeling of going forward as the gunnel of the boat that split the waters in front while it sails. The general meaning is that the fish, the boat, and ultimately the author are all in the same condition. Having so many battles and scars in their backs have brought them all together to this moment in which they consider in an act of mutual acknowledgement how those scars have transformed themselves in “rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!”. Rainbows almost always come out after the rain, symbolizing the renewal and cleansing of nature. At this point, the fisherman understood that in the middle of the chaotic circumstances of the trip she could also see the bright share of her experiences. “And I let the fish go” finish the author with that wonderful epiphany that comes after the gaze of the rainbow, leaving the fish, and indeed, life continues its path.