When Fish Fight Back
Fish have different symbolic meanings in different cultures, ranging from prosperity and fertility to resurrection and immortality.
Australia has a big fish culture which I learned about a little when I was travelling in Tropical North Queensland where I made some of my documentary Sister Kenny’s Method earlier this year.
Some of us eat fish for health, some put fish in curry, and ask how fish sauce is made. Some are fascinated by fish and ask, do fish sleep? Fly? Die? Drown? Feel pain? See in the dark? Hear? Smell? See water? Swim backwards? Blink?
Each culture has some iconic stories about fish. Here is an Iranian story that found its way into my PhD thesis: The Little Black Fish, a classic piece of Iranian children’s literature, originally published by IIDCYA in 1968. The illustrator of the book is Farshid Mesghali, a renowned Iranian artist. The writer of the book is one of the most renowned literary figures, Samad Behrangi, also known for his revolutionary zeal. The word ‘comrade’ used in the text reflects his leftist thoughts.
Most of my PhD thesis focused on Iranian revolutionary picture books which did not respect mother-child bonds in their response to the discourses of resistance of their socio-political context in the years prior to the 1979 Revolution. The books encouraged independent thinking and decision making in children in an attempt to create the climate necessary for revolutionary martyrs to emerge. While the mainstream picture books valorised maternal power and respected mother-child bonds, revolutionary books subverted them.
Dissimilar to the majority of mainstream picture books, The Little Black Fish does not represent mother-child bonds. The book is the story of a black fish whose colour symbolises his eccentric way of thinking. While the mother begs him not to leave her, the Little Black Fish literally cuts the bond with his mother to find the end of the river where they are living and, metaphorically, to explore possibilities.
He reaches the sea full of perils, the most dangerous of which is the threat of the Heron. At the beginning of the book, the illustrations demonstrate the struggle between the mother and child: stones covered with green moss dividing them, the Little Black Fish facing the title page (associated with the safety of home: if he stays with his mother, he will live a safe life), the mother being directed to the ‘away page’ (suggesting emotions associated with lack of security, that is, in their struggle, she is about to lose her foothold and the Black Fish is about to lose a fulfilling life as a result of exploring the end of the river.)
On the other hand, when the Little Black Fish cuts the bond and embarks on his journey, he faces towards the ‘away page’, seen in the image where he is talking to the moon. In this image, he is heading towards danger, depicted through the black colour covering the moon with spiky lines sticking out, foreshadowing his forthcoming pain in his encounter with death.
He eventually dies while saving the life of a little red fish. The ending of the book is also revolutionary because the text ends with a red fish, reflecting on the Little Black Fish’s acts, and considering following the lead of the Martyred Little Black Fish. The colour red in Iranian culture is the colour of martyrdom. The illustrations of the book are very simple but artistic. The book has been published by different publishing houses including Carolrhoda Books in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1971. This translation of the original book into English is poor and inaccurate, and the ending of the book was changed so as not to indicate the death of the Little Black Fish. The book was also published after the Revolution by Roozegar Publication in Tehran in 1998, which suggests the similarity of the context of the books.