Question

How does the motif of wishing apply to each of the story’s major characters: Yoni, Sergei, and the goldfish? What is similar and different about their wishes? Support your responses with evidence from the text.

Answer 1

Answer:

The motif of wishing for Yoni was through the sale of his video footage.

The motif of wishing for Yoni was through the magic goldfish.

The motif of wishing for the goldfish was through the final wish.

Explanation:

In the story "What, Of this Goldfish, Would you wish?", the motif of wishing for Yoni was through his innocent yet ambitious dream of selling his video footage to companies. "With a little decent footage, he was sure he’d be able to sell it to Channel 8 or  Discovery in a flash,".

For Sergei, the motif of wishing was through the magic goldfish. Through this line ‘‘I’m a magic fish. I’m fluent in everything:”, we can see that the goldfish had the magic to grant Sergei with wishes.

The motif of wishing for the goldfish was that once he granted three wishes to Sergei, he would have his freedom. The lines "After the last wish, Sergei won’t have a choice. He’ll have to let the goldfish go. His magic goldfish. His friend."

There is no similarity in the wishes of these three characters. Yoni wanted success and wealth, Sergei wanted companionship and someone to talk to and the goldfish wanted freedom.