The Fish poem review

Conflict is known for disagreements, fights, and wars. For most people, the greatest conflicts are the ones within themselves. This type of conflict is called internal. Internal conflict is experienced within a person and his or herself; whether it’s a struggle to make the right decision, or the need to accept change around you. Elizabeth Bishop shows this type of conflict in one of her popular poems “The Fish”. In the poem, a fisher experiences a battle between his or her victory of catching a fish and their admiration, respect, and guilt later gained for this fish. This leaves the fisher stuck with making the right decision and that decision is should he or she free the fish or not. A battle within yourself can result in a completely different outcome than what you expected. For the fisher in Bishop’s poem, their day out fishing turned into a more complicated situation than expected, which changed the outcome for both the fish and the fisher that day. Bishop started the poem off with this statement “I caught a tremendous fish” (34). Just from the way Bishop choose to start this poem off we can get a feel of what the fishers initial thoughts were when they caught this fish. I believe that the character enjoys fishing and takes pride in the activity. This statement shows the readers that catching this big fish was an accomplishment for the fisher. From this I can concluded that this fisher intentions where to catch a fish and maybe return home with it to brag. I definitely do not believe their intentions where to set this fish free or make an emotional connection with a fish. However, this what happens to the fisher in this poem.
Martin Bidney made a statement about the emotional connections that was made in this poem “empathy for an adequate love object is the liberating answer” (506). How did this connection develop? I believe this developed, because the character gives human qualities to this fish. The fisher studies their catch, while holding it half out