The Magic Fish

Originally, Tiên was tired of his old, patched up jacket that his mom kept repairing. He wanted a new one and he was somewhat ashamed of having to wear the jacket. However, with some help from his friends he comes to appreciate his mother as well as the jacket.

The only way Tiên’s mother is able to stay in touch with her family back in Vietnam is through their daily phone calls. His mother has not been able to her family since she left Vietnam as a young woman to live in America. She misses her family dearly and feels disconnected with them. This pain was then amplified when her mother passed.

Throughout the book, fish are mentioned quite often. Specifically, in the short fairytales discussed within the book. These fish act as a motif to convey the theme of family and/or love. One example of this is in the second story (the Cinderella story) when a young Tǎm has just lost her father leaving her all alone with her evil stepmother and stepsister. She soon meets a talking fish and befriends it. This fish quickly becomes her newfound family and gives her the love she has been lacking since her father passed.

Tiên often finds it difficult to communicate with his mother due to their language barrier as well as the differences in their upbringings. Overall, they have a good relationship but this dissconect has certainly caused a small rift between the two. As a result, nightly story telling has become something of a routine for them. The use these stories to bond with one another and connect with each other beyond any language barrier. It is through these stories that they are able to show their love and understanding of each other.

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen conveys the themes of love and family through Tiên's relationship with his mother, his mother's relationship with her family, as well as through the various stories the tell along the way.

In the Cinderella story, the stepmother's greed and hatred leads to her only daugher's demise. She was cruel to her stepdaughter and made her miserable--even going as far as attempting to kill her. However, it is her daughter who died in stead. Within a family, their is no room for ill will or hatred because such things often have dire consequences.