Identity

The theme of identity is important for Fish Girl’s character development, in that Fish Girl is portrayed as a character who constantly struggles with the duality of her identity, since she struggles to choose whether to identify with human life or aquatic life. One example that encapsulates this claim occurs in the scene where Fish Girl returns to her water tank after growing legs for the first time. Her tail grows back as soon as she enters the water, and Fish Girl says, “good… I think” (91). In this scene, Fish Girl’s first reaction to returning to her original form is relief, but when she gets an opportunity to reflect on the fact that she transformed back into a mermaid, she becomes unsure as to whether being a mermaid is what she really wants. This shows a conflict of identities within Fish Girl, so it...