literary terms of the Mermaid
Setting: in Japan around in 1965, at the seaside. the era of no freedom from thought control.
conflict: ①a boy vs himself ... he want to remember what the mermaid looks like, but he cannot remember it because of oppression by society. he gasp for the memory. ②the boy vs society... the society do not admit of speaking or thinking freely, and they want to suppress those person. however, the boy keep believing the existence of the mermaid regardless of the society.
climax: he could look a fish as a mermaid at first, but after he was trained by the society, he could not see it as a mermaid.
symbol: the ocean is a symbol of freedom from thought control. the mermaid is a symbol of a pure mind.
irony: the government tried to let him forget the existence of mermaid, they could not do it easily.ironically,because the government imposed thought control on him(the nation), they lost an imaginative and promising boy who might be contributing to the country in the future.
theme: don't deprive freedom of thought and speech of the nation. Never back to such an era again.
