In the song “A Fish on Land,” Lhasa De Sela uses the symbols and archetypes of water, fish, and breathing to express the theme of life struggle. According to Anthony Stevens, “fish are water creatures, they are gifts of the Great Mother as well as a symbolic content of the collective unconscious” (337). A fish gasping for air suggests struggling to live: “And he could breathe again and then he grew and he became a man” (Sela, par.3).  A fish on land can die but if “dropped him in water and he could breathe again” (Sela, par. 3).   

Quotes

One quote I find confusing is, “the best possible formulation of a relatively unknown thing, which cannot for that reason be more clearly or characteristically represented”.

Here are the three quotes I found interesting.

“Human dreams are spontaneous, involuntary events which generate symbols every night of our lives”.

“A good therapeutic rationale exists, therefore, for working analytically with dreams, for it is a process which can open up the personality to new symbolic meanings rich in implications for the life of the dreamer and possessing potentially enormous transformative power”.

“Symbols tolerate paradox and can combine contradictory ideas; words are about one thing or another”.