39 pages • 1 hour read
Antwone Quenton FisherFinding Fish
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
Antwone’s feels the reaches of systemic issues faced by those in his community: “In my community, I felt unhappiness all around me. In the shadow of Vietnam, the race riots of the earlier decade, the growing spread of drugs and guns, and the overwhelming specter of poverty, the Glenville area was showing the wear and tear being taken on black ghettos all around the country” (184). How do Antwone’s experiences in Finding Fish relate to broader social inequalities?
Many characters are harsh or cruel toward Antwone and others: “[…] anyone who demeans another person in word or deed demeans himself or herself” (197-198). Examine the ways that demeaning behavior functions in the memoir.
From his early childhood on, Antwone must endure acts meant to hurt and embarrass him and others: “I tried to look at her to say with my eyes that everything was all right, everything was all right, but she turned her face and looked away in awful shame.” What part does the feeling of shame play in Finding Fish?
From his early childhood, Antwone dreams of being reunited with his family. This desire follows him throughout his whole life: “Maybe she could hear my soul crying for connection; maybe she knew that after having been cut loose from the only family I had known, what I needed desperately were threads that connected me to my real family” (226). Write about connection and disconnection in the memoir.
From his earliest years, Antwone often finds he must rely on himself because others around him are unable or unwilling to nurture him: “Who will cry for the little boy? / The boy inside the man” (230). Which do you think prevails in Finding Fish: dependence or independence?
“The world at night when you’re without shelter feels like the Twilight Zone, another dimension” (231). Antwone often compares real life with fiction when things become difficult for him. Write about the significance of fiction and fantasy in this memoir.
Though Antwone is able to occasionally connect with others for periods throughout his life, it is not until he joins the navy that he truly feels part of something: “That was what the navy did for me from the start. It made me belong, it made me feel that I was the same as everyone else” (289-90). Explore the various forms of belonging in the memoir.
The act of writing, especially writing this autobiography, is a way of overcoming his traumatic past and living a healthy and productive life: “I hurt for the tragic waste of human potential I witnessed at Terminal Island” (329). Write about autobiography as the act of rewriting one’s own narrative in Finding Fish.
Antwone finds that the struggles he and those around him face are often the result of broader societal issues like slavery: “Through a more educated background on slavery, for example, I gained a different perspective on the Picketts and how the oppression they had suffered had perhaps turned them into oppressors” (312). Talk about the ramifications of slavery in Finding Fish.
