Summary Of Goldfish Would You Wish By Etgar Keret

The story follows young Yonatan, as he tries to document people’s responses to a simple question. Along the way he meets a man named Sergei, and this is where acceptance comes up. Sergei is very irritated by the young and ecstatic boy when he shows up to his doorstep. Sergei being very weary of people who knock on his door, does not accept or tolerate Yonatan, and tries to get him to leave his home when Yonatan was showing respect to him and being very kind. When Yonatan enters his home without his permission, Sergei kills him on accident. Then Sergei's magical fish offers to revive Yonatan in exchange for being set free, this forced him to become tolerant of the young boy, and make a selfless decision.

Acceptance is trusting, having confidence, and be welcoming of others. Being able to accept people with an open mind may be difficult at times but depending on our experience and the way we have come to be it can sometimes be very natural. In the three texts, “What, of This Goldfish Would You Wish”, “The Lottery”, and “American Flag Stands for Tolerance,” the author’s focus on the way we interact and relate with others. This quote, “We as human beings, must be willing to accept people who are different from ourselves” said by Barbara Jordan, demonstrates how everyone should be open and willing to accept those who are different and not to discriminate against others.

The short story “What, of this goldfish, Would You Wish?’ is a emotive short story

The characters in this story are all within the same family. The narrator’s mother died, at an earlier time, due to eating poisonous fish. He had a brother, sister, and father who play major roles in the family dynamic. The narrator and sister are both young and not traditional in a way their father is. For example, “'You were swayed by certain -influences. Like so many others.” (____) The father is expressing his distaste for the way the sons generation acts; however, their father, being older, is a very traditional person compared to the children. The narrator feels uncomfortable around his father due to how uptight he is; furthermore, the narrator does not know how to hold a meaningful conversation with his father due to negative childhood memories as well as the failure of his business. The failure lead to the Watanabe family’s death, his business partner committed a murder-suicide. These differences create

This impetuousness leads to significant consequences for Yonatan. Impetuousness drives Yonatan to attempt feats that most people would never dream of attempting in a manner that mirrors reckless behaviors. Impetuousness, exuberance, and lack of ability to comprehend the intentions of others combine in Yonatan to have the hyperbolic effect of death. The author writes that, “Sergei tells the boy … the earring boy is stubborn … the kid is slippery … the kid is in his house.” The inability Yonatan shows in interpreting Sergei’s opinion of Yonatan’s presence and the exuberance he shows in his noncompliance with Sergei’s wishes leads to his imminent demise and feeds the impulsiveness Yonatan shows by forcing his way into Sergei’s home. Yonatan is completely incapable of comprehending that Sergei does not want anything to do with his documentary. Furthermore, when the Keret writes that, “the kid with the earring starts screaming ‘Goldfish, goldfish,’ he’s so excited,” he describes Yonatan’s incompetence in conveying his intentions. The impetuousness that ensues because of these instances of miscommunications is one of the things that motivates Yonatan to pursue his documentary. Lack of this impetuousness and presence of reason and intellect would dictate a much different plot, one in which Yonatan leaves Sergei’s doorstep unscathed and Sergei has his third wish to use as he

This shows us how these values and traditions keep us together and in certain line. But that too is a disadvantage because we stop questioning the traditions and values passed by the family or community, for example what if in the family dinner I want to sit in the living room with the men and not cook? To my community it will look bad but today this act is seems normal, that leads us to another problem with this assumption, that maybe our community values more the rules that the people that form the community, given the example on the essay about the Amish people and their traditions.

We follow our culture, for example, we obey the rules and we don’t go around naked. Following the culture is important but sometimes we allow the culture to change us. Our culture cares about women not being thin enough, or men not being rich enough. It’s just what our culture would have us to believe. Don’t believe. We should decide our path as individuals---our ideas, what we value---those we must choose ourselves. We can’t let anyone or any society to determine those for us.

Traditions typically can be described as noble and based on morality. There are many benefits to following and keeping traditions, and traditions generally survive through generations because they bring a community together and are a proud part of a community’s identity. Through time, traditions and cultural norms change as beliefs change, and sometimes they can stray away from their moral foundations and become dangerous. When this happens, younger, innocent generations are at danger of blindly adopting these toxic traditions.

In the story What, of This Goldfish Would You Wish? Yonatan is a man young man who is starting a documentary, In this documentary he is asking the question if you found a talking goldfish that granted you three wishes, what would you wish for? One day while knockin on a door he came across Sergei Goralicks door, When Sergei opened the door Yonatan inched his way into Sergeis home and saw his goldfish. Yonatan started screaming goldfish and quickly, Sergei grabbed the burner off the stove and hit Yonatan on the head with it killing him. Proving the point that people don't accept others who are different from themselves. Sergei did'nt even let Yonatan explain what he was at his house for and he did'nt even try to nicely attempt to nicely remove Yonatan from his home.

When most people think of their childhood they remember fond memories of traditions they had with friends and family, such as Christmas Eve or something as simple as a family game night. Many of these traditions are carried down through generations and have a significant role in communities and teaching youth important values. These traditions shape our culture and allow us to generalize a country or area by simply listing off common traditions. However, it seems as though the values these traditions teach, both religious and social, seem to be evolving to fit an ever changing and more connected modern world. The question that remains, however, is if these values are evolving fast enough for a more forward thinking generation. Many would say

The narrator’s father is a man who values traditional family and is very strict. He and his son don’t have a good relationship. For this reason, the son did not return to his country until two years after his mother’s death. Even they have a bad relationship, but the father saw his son just back from the long flight, he thought that his son hungry . "You must be hungry. We 'll eat as soon as Kikuko arrives." (Ishiguro 632), that thing means the narrator’s father did what a normal father would do for a son. Then, they have a dinner with Kikuko, narrator’s sister. The father’s told about his life: he lost his wife, his business has folded since the suicide of his business partner. They’ve also talked about narrator’s childhood: the garden with a ghost that the narrator has seen when he was a child; the son confuses a picture

There are many things that people do every day without questioning why they do them. These are our habits and traditions, and though for the most part they are unimportant they can be a crucial part of our culture and our interactions with each other. Sometimes there are traditions that can cause harm or are morally unacceptable. What should be done in this case? Edmund Burke, a nineteenth century politician and author, argues that it is best to stick with tradition rather than causing dramatic changes in people’s behavior. This is a key component in his argument against the French Revolution in his essay “Reflections on the Revolution in France.” In this essay he argues that the revolution will only lead the

He left his tradition of hunting buffalos his son felt the same way. “Its hard you know without the buffalo the shaman the arrow.” (39) This shows how the father and his son they both feel the same way and how much they both miss everything about it and how it could never be the same without

Robert Green once said “Tolerance is giving to every other human being every right that you claim for yourself.” Do you ever wonder why people don't get treated the same because the differences they have? For example, people from different countries like Afghanistan, Mexico, and other countries don’t get treated like how we treat our friends or families. The quote “We as human beings, must be willing to accept People who are different from ourselves” is By Barbara Jordan. I am analyzing this in the essay I agree with this quote because a majority of the people that are coming from somewhere else just wants to be welcomed and friendly to the people that are already here.

Throughout this unit I have seen how the lense of perspective is different in everybody's eye and how it’s important to look through the lense of the opposing side and not just our own. A great example that was shown in one of the stories that we read is in “What, of this Goldfish, would you wish” when around half way through the story it switched from the young boys perspective to that of the Russian. Also examples can be taken from the “Texas V.S. Johnson” case and how it can be seen through the perspective of both the government and the people who were burning the flag. There can even be examples from current day events that happen everyday in another part of the world with the video “My So-called enemy” showing how both the Israelis and the Palestinians have their motives for what they fight for. All of