After concluding Gould’s Book of Fish, I simply kept reading the last page of the book (pg. 404) multiple times. I somehow thought that doing this would allow me to better determine the difference between imagination and reality with respect to both Sid and Gould. However, I kept forgetting that this is a fictional novel, and that Richard Flanagan has the ability to write or create anything he believes is important. As an example, the last page of the novel states that William Buelow Gould drowned after trying to escape on (or possibly sometime after) February 29, 1831 (404). The date of February 29 (which would indicate a leap year) should not have existed in 1831. Thus, I realized that my focus needed to shift away from determining the complete “truth” behind Gould’s narrative and who may be narrating certain parts in the story. I instead tried to focus on what Flanagan was attempting to convey to his readers and how this novel may relate to certain aspects of my life.
As I began thinking about this novel’s possible relationship to my personal thoughts and feelings, I recollected the quotation “Can a man become a fish? All you divers who have come so far to fathom my mystery…” (401). Sometimes I do wish that I could become a fish. As a certified scuba diver, I have seen the beauty of the deep ocean and some of the creatures that live there. As I am scuba diving, I always wonder what it would be like to be a fish and sometimes become envious of their freedom. I found it interesting that the narrator in the quotation above even mentions divers in general (yet may not specifically be referring to scuba divers). However, I can certainly see a connection between Gould and myself from this novel.
After the last discussion that we had during class on Thursday I have come to conclude that that there is no truth. I feel as if the the mystery of what is real and what is fake is all irrelevant to authors main point. I feel as if Flanagan was trying to comment on the state of being and author in today's society, and how the art of writing has been tainted by humans. The last chapter of the book felt like it was one a soap box and revealing his true thoughts on his art. He comments at the end how fish (art) is the only pure thing in life, and how humans are truly destructive and evil.
ReplyDeleteThe close reading that we did on Friday also confirms my thoughts of Flanagan making this entire novel on the state of writing novels. Flanagan comments on what the tourist (the consumers) needs to hear (or read) in order for something to be considered valuable or "antique" (in other words a classic). Throughout this novel he provides us with the ingredients necessary to make critics consider this a classic book, without fully conforming to the linear creative structure that is demanded by most of the reading community. Flanagan provides us with a unorthodox structure just to prove that he can make a "classic" within the eyes of the literature enthusiast. He succeeded.