Difference Between Gold Fish And The Brother's Grimm Version Of The Three Wishes
One very large difference between What, Of This Goldfish, Would You Wish and The Brother’s Grimm Version of The Three Wishes is the way the wishes are used. In Etgar Keret’s story, most of the wishes are used intentionally and with a certain purpose. Most of the wishes seem to vary depending on what a person in that given situation would want – an elderly lady wants a child, a Holocaust survivor wishes for world peace, and a Russian migrant just wants something to talk to. In contrast, within the Grimm story, all the wishes are used unintentionally and rather wastefully. The woodcutter’s wife accidentally wishes for a string of sausages, which sets the stage for all three wishes to be completely used up by the end of the story, without anything
really being accomplished. Keret’s story seems rather idealistic in that none of the wishes are truly wasted, although this could lend itself to the format – the wishes are left to be used in private in the Grimm story, while in the Goldfish story, people are being interviewed on camera. The way all the characters Yonatan interviews use their wishes lends perfectly to the general idea of What, Of This Goldfish, Would You Wish: Ordinary people are being interviewed on camera, and asked what, above all, they wish for. This is framed as a more of a social experiment at the beginning. Meanwhile, in The Brother’s Grimm, with the way the elf simply grants him and his wife three wishes, they are bound to be wasted and not used to their potential.
However, while the first two wishes of each story could not be more different, the way the third/last/final wish is used is almost identical. The character using the wish makes a mistake, and must have it undone. In Keret’s story, Sergei Goralick, a Russian man who Yonatan tries to interview, accidentally deals a fatal blow to him with the burner on top of his stove. In The Brother’s Grimm, in an angry daze, the woodcutter requests that sausages get stuck up her nose. After this, both end up using their third wish to undo their error, but not without regret. Sergei is sad that he will lose his only companion, and the woodcutter is sad that he will not be able to fulfill his dreams of riches after now wasting all three of his wishes. The way the two stories start off very different and then converge into similarity near the end shows that they are both at least somewhat similar at the core.
The second way both stories differ is in their “realness”, or simply how real they are intended to feel. Keret’s story is almost documentary-like, showcasing ordinary people in Israel and what they would wish for, with wishes being simple, altruistic things like world peace, a child, or a companion intended to show ordinary people’s hopes and dreams. The Brother’s Grimm is a fairytale featuring things such as elves, intended to be less of a remark on the human experience and more of a nice story. Obviously, the “three wishes” idea of both stories is fairytale-like, but we can find a massive difference between the general purpose – the goldfish story is more metaphorical and symbolic.
really being accomplished. Keret’s story seems rather idealistic in that none of the wishes are truly wasted, although this could lend itself to the format – the wishes are left to be used in private in the Grimm story, while in the Goldfish story, people are being interviewed on camera. The way all the characters Yonatan interviews use their wishes lends perfectly to the general idea of What, Of This Goldfish, Would You Wish: Ordinary people are being interviewed on camera, and asked what, above all, they wish for. This is framed as a more of a social experiment at the beginning. Meanwhile, in The Brother’s Grimm, with the way the elf simply grants him and his wife three wishes, they are bound to be wasted and not used to their potential.
However, while the first two wishes of each story could not be more different, the way the third/last/final wish is used is almost identical. The character using the wish makes a mistake, and must have it undone. In Keret’s story, Sergei Goralick, a Russian man who Yonatan tries to interview, accidentally deals a fatal blow to him with the burner on top of his stove. In The Brother’s Grimm, in an angry daze, the woodcutter requests that sausages get stuck up her nose. After this, both end up using their third wish to undo their error, but not without regret. Sergei is sad that he will lose his only companion, and the woodcutter is sad that he will not be able to fulfill his dreams of riches after now wasting all three of his wishes. The way the two stories start off very different and then converge into similarity near the end shows that they are both at least somewhat similar at the core.
The second way both stories differ is in their “realness”, or simply how real they are intended to feel. Keret’s story is almost documentary-like, showcasing ordinary people in Israel and what they would wish for, with wishes being simple, altruistic things like world peace, a child, or a companion intended to show ordinary people’s hopes and dreams. The Brother’s Grimm is a fairytale featuring things such as elves, intended to be less of a remark on the human experience and more of a nice story. Obviously, the “three wishes” idea of both stories is fairytale-like, but we can find a massive difference between the general purpose – the goldfish story is more metaphorical and symbolic.