Question

Please answer!! in 100 words describe the sighnificance of the carp in Wangs short story 'The Carp'. I cant figure it out, so i hope you can. Heres the story for reference,

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My father was the school principal. The day I was born, he caught a twenty-pound carp. He gave it to the school kitchen. All the teachers and boarding students tasted it. Waves of mountains surrounded us. I grew up yearning for the ocean. Smoke arose from green mountains to form clouds each morning. My father named me Cloud. When a son was born to Confucius, the king of Lu sent over a carp as present. Confucius named his son Carp. The wise say a carp leaping over the dragon gate is a very lucky sign. My father says he named me Cloud because I was born in the year of the dragon: there are always clouds following a dragon. Confucius' son died an early death. My father has only three daughters. When I was three, I wandered all over the campus. A stray cat in a haunted town. My mother says I passed the room where my father was imprisoned. He whispered to me, hid a message in my little pocket. It was his will that I should grow up a strong woman, and find justice for him. They caught me. My father was beaten to near death. Some of them were students, whose parents were peasants. Some of them were teachers, who used to be his best friends. They had tasted the carp. It has been recorded that Confucius could not tell the difference between millet and wheat, and was thus mocked by a peasant. This peasant became a big hero, representing the wisdom of the people, thousands of years after Confucius' death. My father still goes fishing, the only thing that seems to calm him. The mountains are sleeping waves. My father catches very small fish. My mother eats them. My friends laugh at me, when I tell them that once upon a time, my father caught a carp weighing twenty pounds.

Answer 1

• To understand the significance of "the carp" in Yun Wan's short story, it is important to pay a look a the background of the speaker since she received great influence for her writings.

• On the one hand, the writer was influenced by the political climate in China since her childhood. For instance, her father, who did not agree with the ideals of Mao Zedong (Chinese communist leader), was tortured and imprisoned.

• On the other hand, she was influenced by Confucianism, which is a philosophy, or religion, developed from the teachings of Confucius (500 B.C.). It encourages to perform human and ethical acts.

So, the carp in the story is a symbolism that means:

• Perseverance, luck and success in Chinese culture, but the writer uses it in an ironic manner. To illustrate this, see the following excerpts:

"When a son was born to Confucius, the king of Lu sent over a carp as present. Confucius named his son Carp."

"The wise say a carp leaping over the dragon gate is a very lucky sign. My father says he named me Cloud because I was born in the year of the dragon: there are always clouds following a dragon. Confucius' son died an early death. My father has only three daughters."