- What do you believe the demon symbolizes in The Story of the Fisherman and the Demon? What allegories do you read in this story?
This story starts off by explaining the present life of an old fisherman. He was married with three daughters. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any money. They didn’t even have enough money for food. The fisherman went to a nearby water hole where he would cast his net four times every day. On this one particular day, he was determined to catch something. Each cast brings him nothing, but he recites a verse after opening the net. Finally, on the fourth cast, he catches a very heavy jar! He was very happy! He was plotting different ways to take it to the copper market. He decided to remove the stopper and shake out of the contents. In doing this, nothing came out. Eventually, smoke began to come out of it and spread everywhere. There, in front of him stood a demon. The demon wanted to know how the fisherman wanted to die. The fisherman gave him his life story and the demon changed his mind. He decided to grant him the wish of making him a rich fisherman to help out his family!
I think that he demon symbolizing all of the fisherman’s doubts. When the fisherman couldn’t catch any fish, he was feeling defeated. When he finally caught the demon, he had to convince him that his life did matter. The demon gave in and helped him, which helped his family greatly!
In this story, I thought that the demon was the perfect example of an allegory. I’ve always been told to “face my fears’ and this story kind of showed that. The fisherman was in a terrible situation then faced his demon. He conquered him and ended up with a very happy ending.