Setting
It takes place on a beach at first then moves on to a town that's close to the beach. (possibly Japan?)
Conflict
The boy uses his imagination in a world where it is prohibited.
Climax
The tickling torture therapy and the book therapy drove him over the edge. This is the climax because he forgot half of the mermaid. Curious to what the mermaid looked like before, he rushes back home only to find what everyone else saw, a fish. Devastated, he walks to the ocean and releases the fish but to his surprise, he sees the mermaid again and they disappear together.
Symbol
1)Mermaid
The mermaid I think symbolizes freedom and individuality. Freedom because mermaids usually roam the vast ocean and can go wherever they please. Individuality, because the boy apart from everyone else chose to see the mermaid even till the very end.
2)Books
If this really took place in japan I think it stands for how children study too much to the point where they don't have any creative thoughts. (?)
3) The boy's hair...
I could be completely wrong and it could be a coincidence but whenever the boy was with the mermaid his hair was flowy and constantly moved. This could symbolize his enjoyment of imagination. (like how a dog wags its tail when it's happy???) During the therapy or near the end when he's at the beach his hair barely moves.
Irony
After the therapy, he was afraid of fish but in the end, he swam away with one into the ocean which is probably full of fish.
Theme
I think the theme is how the government controls society to think a certain way in the world. I know it sounds pretty heavy but from the court scene, the therapy, and the end where they followed the boy to the sea it was about the government doing whatever it took to change the way the boy thought about the fish, which was a mermaid in his eyes.
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