Resurrection

Resurrection means to rise from the dead or to revive. Resurrection is the narrator's primary theme in “Fish.” Many of the narrator's memories over the course of the story are concerned with little moments in which resurrection has occurred or nearly occurred, for example, the father's birth a year after his stillborn brother; his childhood recovery from pneumonia; his depression and subsequent recovery as an adult; and the daughter leaving her marriage and starting her life anew. The imminence of death comes as a surprise to the father at the beginning of “Fish,” but he accepts it gracefully, sad only that he will miss watching his grandchildren grow. The memories the narrator recalls are a foil against death and its finality and serve to imbue a dying man with life, reviving him momentarily to the fullness of being.

At the end of the short story, the family is...