What Do Fish Have to Do With Anything?

In both “What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything?” and “The Goodness of Matt Kaizer,” the protagonists are challenged in different ways to pursue the difficult task of Developing an Internal Moral Compass based upon their own unique experiences of the world’s ethical dilemmas. The first story in the collection explores themes of morality, loneliness, and empathy through the eyes of Willie, a perceptive child who is merely trying to make sense of his fractured family life. By centering the story in Willie’s perspective, the narrative highlights the fragmented way children experience trauma, absorbing emotional realities while lacking access to the full details. Willie understands that his father has left and knows that his mother is deeply unhappy, but the reasons behind these events remain obscured. Similarly, the story featuring Matt Kaizer is told from the peripheral perspective of his friend Marley. By employing these strategically limited but emotionally acute points of view, Avi presents vividly realized adolescent characters whose confusion, curiosity, and sensitivity define their worldview.

In “What Do Fish Have to Do with Anything?”, Willie’s mother plays a central role in shaping her son’s incomplete understanding of the world’s harsher realities. For example, she shields him from direct information about his father’s abandonment, whether out of a protective impulse or her own emotional exhaustion. In doing so, however, she inadvertently contributes to Willie’s sense of isolation. Her careful portioning of cake, her insistence on ignoring the unhoused man, and her vague answers to Willie’s questions all reinforce the emotional distance that separates them. Her deliberate lack of communication prevents Willie from fully processing his feelings about his family, and he is forced to seek answers elsewhere.

As the unhoused man becomes the focal point of Willie’s exploration into the nature of unhappiness, Willie defies his mother’s injunctions and boldly talks with the man in a valiant attempt at Overcoming Obstacles to Human Connection. Willie recognizes unhappiness in himself and in his mother, but he cannot yet frame this issue clearly, and the man’s conversations help him to reframe unhappiness as a sickness. This shift in his perspective allows him to move away from self-blame or the idea of punishment, and he instead imagines that unhappiness is a treatable malady. The man’s comment that “what a person needs is always more than they say” (18) offers Willie a way to understand that unhappiness is linked to unspoken needs, and this revelation allows him to feel less helpless in the face of his mother’s pain.

Willie also develops his understanding of unhappiness through metaphor. He recalls learning in school about fish that live in dark caves and evolve to have no eyes. Though he struggles to articulate the connection at first, he comes to see the cave fish as symbolic of his mother’s condition. Just as the fish adapt to permanent darkness, his mother has adapted to her unhappiness by withdrawing from the world and shutting out possibilities for positive change. Willie interprets this adaptation as dangerous, and his reaction suggests that she is losing the capacity to recognize or cultivate any happiness at all.

Finally, the story traces Willie’s growth in empathy and his new endeavors toward Developing an Internal Moral Compass that is not limited by his mother’s perspective. For Willie, his mother’s withdrawal into unhappiness also marks her withdrawal from empathy. He can clearly see that her choice to ignore the unhoused man reflects her desire to avoid an uncomfortable reminder of her own struggles, and she is also dodging the possibility of seeing her own experience reflected in the plight of another. Willie, however, resists this inward turn and sees the connection between his own loneliness, the man’s unhappiness, and his own mother’s existential despair. When he accuses his mother of becoming like the cave fish, he delivers a scathing indictment of her self-isolation and issues a challenge for her to reconnect to the world. Unlike her, he seeks the authenticity of human connection, even in small acts like giving away cake or a nickel. This particular story is simultaneously a portrait of a child grappling with abandonment and a broader reflection on empathy as a moral stance. Through Willie’s voice, Avi shows how the effort to understand unhappiness and connect with others can counteract isolation, even in the midst of personal loss. 

While Willie is the ethical “hero” of his story from the very beginning, the morally gray Matt Kaizer undergoes a more convoluted path toward Developing an Internal Moral Compass, for he must first become aware of his own moral shortcomings and then gain the motivation to change them. In his case, a series of external pressures provides the impetus for his eventual transformation. At the start, Matt Kaizer is known as the “baddest of the bad” (21), a reputation based on his willingness to defy authority and take on any dare that his peers suggest. For Marley and the rest of the friend group, Matt’s behavior serves as a source of entertainment and a way of strengthening their bonds. The mischievous behavior that adults define as “bad” (e.g., picking up dead animals, telling vulgar stories, or defying rules) becomes a badge of honor within the group. This duality reflects the fact that children create their own systems in response to adult authority.

At the heart of Matt’s reputation is his code of never refusing a dare. Marley emphasizes that Matt’s commitment to dares makes him both entertaining and trustworthy among his peers. This paradox—that Matt is “bad” yet honest and reliable—points to a deeper steadfastness in Matt’s character. His father, Reverend Kaizer, recognizes this trait as a moral resource that merely needs to be redirected. Rather than punishing Matt or condemning his behavior, the reverend focuses on using Empathy as an Antidote to Cruelty and challenges his son to apply his sense of honor to a more compassionate purpose. By daring Matt to keep visiting the dying Mr. Bataky, Reverend Kaizer subtly exploits his son’s code of conduct and channels it toward an act of empathy and compassion rather than one of disruptive mischief.

“The Goodness of Matt Kaizer” also explores the absence of empathy, particularly through Marley and his friends’ harsh mistreatment of Mary Beth Bataky, when they deride her as a “slug” and treat her father’s impending death as a casual joke. This lack of empathy highlights the group’s immaturity and emotional disconnect, and the story is meant to critique the fact that cruelty and mockery can function as a warped form of social bonding. Notably, Matt’s encounter with Mr. Bataky disrupts his detachment, for when Mr. Bataky mistakes Matt for an angel and pleads for a blessing, Matt is forced into a role that requires seriousness, compassion, and responsibility.

Although Matt’s initial response is to frame the experience in self-centered terms by considering himself to be “less bad” than Mr. Bataky, this moment of profound connection marks the beginning of Matt’s moral transformation. His sense of honor expands from a willingness to complete dares to a moral obligation to keep Mr. Bataky’s confessions a secret, even under pressure from his friends. In the end, Matt’s principle of steadfastness is no longer focused on bravado but on the need to protect another person’s dignity.