Fish on land

In the song “Fish on Land,” Lhasa De Sela uses the symbols and archetypes of a fish, water, and transformation to express the theme of life’s struggles.  According to Anthony Stevens, “Water symbolizes the whole of potentiality: it is the fons et origo, substance from which all forms come and to which they will return” (130). The struggle of life is not an easy journey: “A fish on land gasping for breath” (Lhasa De Sela). Once he overcame the struggles in his life, “he grew and he became a man” and completed his transformation (Lhasa De Sela ).