Conflict is first hinted at with the introduction of her brother, who stays away from home with his soccer ball and refuses to speak his native tongue. As her narrative continues her brother is portrayed as the source of discord, he brings in dirt, appears to be disrespectful and ungrateful for what was so lovingly prepared. He refuses to eat the fish. Her father again is portrayed as patient as he merely shrugs his shoulders to this.
As I continued to read I began to think that this was to be a story of loss of culture: the …show more content…
The narrators question to herself "How to reconcile all that I know of him and still love him?" resonates, as the reader too began to know her father as someone who was kind and loving and then finds it hard to reconcile that with the violence shown during the beating. A dichotomy made even more poignant with the offering by the father to the son of French Toast. We share her grief and confusion. For me, the imagery and composure with which it was told was painfully poetic. "Somewhere in my memory, a fish is dying slowly. My father and I watch as the water runs