'What Do Fish Have To Do With Anything?'

One point of contrast between the two works is that, while the message of “What Do Fish Have To Do With Anything?” is developed within a realistic-fiction short story, “Homeless” is a nonfiction essay, having no plot line. For instance, the type of writing that Quindlen’s essay is categorized under is clearly expressed in the line in which she expresses her opinion, “So it is natural that the thing that seems most wrong to me right now is that there are so many people without homes.” In this case, with an opinion phrase, the author directly states that she is expressing what she, herself, believes is the most concerning issue currently, making it a nonfiction piece about her personal beliefs and opinions on said issue— homelessness. On the other hand, Avi’s short story is a realistic fiction piece. This is evident because the writer incorporates plausible events that can occur in …show more content…
She expresses that it is more effective to perceive the homeless as people who have been deprived of not plainly a building to live and stay in, but a valuable and important part of life; a place of warmth, loved ones, memories, stability, familiarity, and love. This technique of using the symbol of a home to embody her values and beliefs allows for strong, emotional links, such as the concept of being deprived of a home’s warmth and love, to move and speak to the reader; impacting them in such a way that influences them to sympathize with the destitute. Similarly, Avi also uses the literary device of symbolism to form the message of his short story; symbols like the eyeless fish. To illustrate, within the text, as an explanation about the eyeless fish, Willie informs his mother, “My teacher says it’s all that darkness. The fish forget how to see. So they lose their eyes.” The fish symbolize one who is not fully aware of what is really around them— one