Fish Bowl: An Allegory

This allegory was written by Nathaniel Wiley for an unrelated project. It was reused for this publication.

"Fish Bowl" by Nathaniel Wiley

There were three identical goldfish in a row. They were all placed by the windowsill in a large elementary school science classroom. The science room had fake ferns in a few corners of the room, rows of desks, a large projector, and the large window, which the fish were placed near. All three fish were being observed for a science experiment about how the size of their tanks affects their behaviors.

The first of the three fish was named Cheerio. Cheerio was living in the smallest of the three fish tanks, which wasn't a tank at all, rather a fish bowl. Cheerio never thought he would be the most popular fish in the class, but certainly was. The class loved Cheerio, loved feeding him, tapping on his glass, watching him do loopdy-loops in his fish bowl.

The next fish was Squirt. Squirt lived in a tank, unlike Cheerio, but it wasn’t a large tank by any means. It had enough room to have a small tiki statue and a tiny fake plant of seaweed, which swayed left and right with the motion of the water. Squirt wasn’t nearly as popular as Cheerio, and he didn’t particularly like that Cheerio was more popular than him.

Cheerio gets all of the attention. He must be doing something to get the attention of the children in the class! He can’t have all of that attention on his own. You know, I bet he loves that much attention. Any fish would. He’ll probably be a jerk about it, too, thought Squirt.

The final fish was named Guppy. Guppy’s tank had large ferns and a huge cave for him to dive into and to sleep in. Guppy loved his tank, and, frankly, thought he was much more privileged than Cheerio and Squirt. But he was jealous of Cheerio, despite his large tank. He wanted to be appreciated, like Cheerio, who was loved by all of the students in the science class.

What more could you want? This is really life. Those poor other fish with their smaller tanks, they must be miserable. Yet somehow, Cheerio gets the most attention. Now, that’s really not fair. I live in the biggest tank, therefore I should get the most attention. Cheerio must be bathing in all that glory. He’ll probably go mad before they finish this class experiment.

Cheerio, however, felt bad for Guppy and Squirt.

Those poor fish in their big tanks must be so lonely! I wish I could share some of the attention I get with them. Especially that Guppy fellow. He seems to be sad in that huge tank of his, thought Cheerio.

And Cheerio must want to hog all of his attention for himself, he surely has no desire to share that with me! It’s beginning to get quite lonely in this huge tank, thought Guppy.

That Guppy fellow must love his life. He probably isn’t jealous of anyone. He has everything he needs, clean water, plants, and a huge tank. Why I couldn’t fathom having a tank that huge. And Cheerio probably is getting quite annoyed with all of those visitors. Hopefully he doesn't give them to me, I like this quietness. But Guppy, on the other hand, looks like he could use some company, thought Squirt.

By the end of their first week in the classroom, each fish had a completely skewed view of the reality of the other two fish next to them.

At this time, Guppy had begun to get upset and lonely. He longed for the attention that Cheerio received. He thought that Cheerio was keeping everyone to himself, and selfishly trying to detract attention from the other two fish. So, Guppy thought he should hatch a plan to get more attention, and this time detract from the attention Cheerio received!

After another week, Guppy had hatched a plan of “revenge” on Cheerio. He was fed up with Cheerio’s popularity and he wanted to be noticed. So, he set out to put a stop to Cheerio’s popularity. Guppy had perfected his plan… He was going to play dead to be noticed by the class. That would be the real test of who was loved more!

Yes, I’ll play dead and if the students notice and are upset, that will teach Cheerio a lesson!

But Guppy clearly hadn’t thought this through completely. The class didn’t even notice Guppy flipped on his back, and never came to tap on the glass to see if he was actually alive. The teacher was the only one who noticed, and she actually believed his charade of being dead. The other fish believed it, too.

Cheerio flinched when he heard the toilet flush in the bathroom.

Shame, really, thought Cheerio, it really is sad… I wonder why he died. Loneliness probably.

Man, I wonder what they’ll do with that great big tank! That sounds like it would be so fun, living in that huge tank. Maybe Guppy’s death was for the best! I’ll be the best in the class now, thought Squirt.

Clearly, Squirt and Cheerio had very different views on Guppy’s supposed death. Unfortunately for Squirt, he never got to move into Guppy’s old tank, and the tank was put in storage for the next year they conducted this same experiment.

Squirt was the next to become jealous of the attention that Cheerio was getting, and was already bitter because he didn’t get the fish tank he wanted.

Darn Cheerio! I bet he made sure that I didn’t get Guppy’s tank, the little rat! He just wants all the attention and is afraid that if I get the biggest tank, he’ll lose his popularity!

But this was the opposite of what Cheerio thought. Cheerio couldn’t care less about what tank Squirt had, or what Squirt did. Cheerio was completely content with his life in his fish bowl and continued to love the attention that he got from the members of the class.

These children are so kind. I just hope Squirt doesn’t think that I’m an attention seeker, why he deserves just as much attention as I do! Still unfortunate about Guppy… he seemed like a nice fish, just very lonely, thought Cheerio.

Not long after this, the loneliness of Squirt became unbearable. It had been nearly a month in the science classroom, and Cheerio remained the most popular fish in the room. It was Squirt’s turn to hatch a plan. Squirt decided that he was fed up with Cheerio’s popularity, and decided upon knocking Cheerio’s fish bowl off of the counter by the windowsill. And he did just that. As night fell at the school and the science teacher locked up their classroom, Squirt decided to take action. He leaped out of his tank and threw himself at Cheerio’s fish bowl. The bowl was thrown to the ground, and, shattering, Cheerio and Squirt were left flopping on the floor.

The water they could be in was quickly spreading out, as the remaining water in the bowl was leaking out the cracks. Cheerio and Squirt took one last breath, one last flip, and were gone. They lay there silently, still, next to what once was the smallest enclosure in the room… the fish bowl.

–

There were three goldfish who met an untimely demise in a science classroom with fake ferns in a few corners of the room, rows of desks, a large projector, and the large window, which the fish were placed near. There are many lessons that the class studying these three goldfish learned, but they overlooked one of the most important. Certain conditions alter the perspective and perception of human beings (and fish), causing them to question the views and beliefs of those around them. That was true when these fish were alive, it was true millions of years ago, and it will remain true for every being, goldfish or not, to walk on the Earth today, tomorrow, and deep into the future.