What, of This Goldfish, Would You Wish?' Character Analysis
Is it vital to stay friends with someone even they have been dishonest? Can friendships shape the type of person you become? In the stories “What, of This Goldfish, Would you Wish?” by Etgar Keret is demonstrated how to spot the good and bad in friendships, staying loyal, and ultimately not giving up on others. This is What of This Goldfish Would You Wish character analysis Sergei where the plot of the story the the character of the main hero is discussed.
In the story “What, of This Goldfish, Would you Wish?” the characters appear strange compared to “Two Friends” the protagonist character Sergei owns a magical goldfish that can only accept three wishes. On one particular day, a small boy decided to alarm Sergei and visit him at his home, the boy knocked on his door which he disliked greatly. Sergei states in the story clearly as to why he can’t stand visitors when Sergei was a child the KBG would bang on his door and storm into their family home When the boy knocked Sergei got flashbacks from the KBG, which caused him to kill Yonaton (the boy) after this occurred Sergei began to think “He can’t be dead, I barely touched him”. Sergei knew that he made a wrong decision and let his anger get the best of him. Because of harming the boy his las wish he planned on using for himself would result in letting his goldfish “friend” go. Deciding upon using his last wish on the boy over getting rid of the goldfish was a very hard decision for Sergei and he realizes that having the ability to transform the outcome would be like getting rid of his only friend. When Sergei came to the conclusion that killing the boy over fear and rage resulted in focusing on others for once. For quite some time Sergei relyed on the fish to handle his problems, now it’s his time to solve his own problems.
In the story “What of This Goldfish, Would you Wish?”, The fear revolving Sergei was being alone “I would rather use my last wish to keep my friend than use it on a disturbance”. It’s easily shown now that saving the boy was the right decision, it had been his fault for causing harm. The fish was his best friend but often felt like he was only using his for making others feel better.
In Wish Fish Sergei considers the fish to be his friend, Sergei wants the goldfish to stay with him forever but the goldfish is ready to leave. He tries to talk Sergei into using his last wish to help Yoni so that the goldfish can leave but we know that their friendship cannot truly be called a friendship because it’s only one-sided. An example to support this is “After the last wish, Sergei won’t have a choice. He'll let the goldfish go. His magic goldfish. His Friend”.
They love one another from a friend's standpoint, have problems but they always seem to get through the issues that confront their friendship. They don’t have a perfect friendship but there are times when it may appear as they do. The conflict within both stories shows that the fish acts according to the way Sergei is and Sergei only uses the fish for helping others to build his image for people to rely on of. The two friends show the right amount of support for each other and make well-driven decisions for each other through thinking through different outcomes. It’s easily seen that Sergei uses the wish fish to his advantage in self-approval and the two friends need one another through conflicts they share. Without a friend we would all feel lonely, we need them to help us through life and to gain support from them. The reality of having friends results in allowing yourself to adapt to vast circumstances and struggle towards oneself. Overall the story shows a common theme that ‘To have a good friend, you have to be a good friend.”
To sum up, acceptance in this story is demonstrated. In “What, of This Goldfish Would you Wish?” Sergei has to accept that he doesn't live the best life, has a fear of being lonely and has to lose a friend to gain a wish. It is easy to know when someone is breaking trust and lacking loyalty we know this from this story and actions of the main character Sergei.
