Jake Flaherty
In reading “The Aquatic Uncle,” I was most interested in the personification of the animals and organisms in the story. Not just the personification, but the family dynamic that exists within these organisms. The bold young fish struggled to get onto the land like little children who are just getting the hang of riding their bike for the first time. The family aspect also exists when the family of fish visits their great uncle N’ba N’ga underwater once a year. What captured my interest to this idea of a family was in the passage: “We went to visit our great uncle once a year, the whole family together. It also gave us an opportunity to have a reunion, since we were scattered all over the continent; we could exchange bits of news, trade edible insects, and discuss old scores that were still unsettled.” Not only does this passage symbolize what a family reunion or holiday looks like in our culture, sharing news, settling old scores and the like, but it also throws in a hint of personification of the fish, as they “trade edible insects.” Rarely are insects traded in a traditional human family reunion, but perhaps this is a cultural norm for the fish. Uncle N’ba N’ga is an interesting character in Calvino’s script, perhaps symbolizing the “crazy uncle” in our families. N’ba N’ga is depicted as crass, rude and stuck in his ways, staying underwater instead of joining his family up on the land. He is not afraid to criticize his family for doing so, asking if they have gotten any warts yet, which was a perceived consequence for living on land for an extended period of time. Whether it is an aunt, uncle, grandfather, or cousin, everyone has someone like that and to the fish there is no exception.