Based on the given excerpt above, I can say that the what the carp represents here are DEATH and INNOCENCE. Death here refers to how the twenty-pound carp was being treated and innocence refers to the teachers and boarding students who tasted the carp. This excerpt is actually from Yun Wang's "The Carp" and this lyric poem reflects his bad experiences from his father, such as imprisonment and torture.
I think the best answer is history. The story of the Trojan War is primarily an example mythology where the purpose is for history. Mythology was one means to describe the environment during the ancient times. Myths were used to re-tell historical events.
