Q's personality - Aquatic Uncle

Vic Xuan

Period 2

As the story of the Aquatic Uncle begins, Q and Uncle N’ba N’ga come to an encounter to visit their family members. The family of distinctive and ashamed animals reunited at this one visit. Q comes to a reunion with the whole family together and tries to be the nice guy. He tries to get Uncle to go back with his family to the bottom because it’s better to hunt on the bottom than the surface. When this happens an instant“no” is sharply replied. Q describes his Uncle as a remarkably rude person. Uncle was always grumpy but would mellow out after a while. Uncle’s rude attitude towards his family is disrespectful yet Q still pays respect to him.

From then on, after meeting up and discussing territories for hunting dragonflies, Q explains to Uncle the better method to hunt dragonflies, better on the bottom then on the water’s surface. Uncle was upset before this mention. Q tries to flatter the area he lives in, in order to allow Uncle to realize the incredible space he occupies. Instead, it went from offer to

“It just wasn’t possible to make him accept a reality different from his own.”. (page 73)

Then on, Q gives up quickly and constantly attempted to get his Uncle onto land. Q was ignorant and didn’t understand the Uncle’s adaptation to where he resides at the moment. He noted that managing to even take their great-uncle home with them would achieve a higher position than the rest of the family. Leaving the lagoon was a dream the Uncle would never accomplish.

"But the rivalry was pointless, because our uncle wouldn't dream of leaving the lagoon." (page 73)

"...whoever managed to take our great-uncle home with him would achieve a position of pre-eminence over the rest of our relatives." (page 73)

These quotes show how ignorant and misunderstood Uncle is, but also how ignorant Q is. He’s most likely being selfish and trying to achieve the higher position in his family by taking Uncle back home. It shows Uncle’s resistance to move because of his adapted advantages in the water. This relates to science when animals evolve and adapt to different types of environment. They don’t change enough to leave their home, but they do change in order to adapt to their home for fitness. When they attempt to take him home, then he would definitely deny it because Uncle is a fish and belongs in the water, not on land. He is very independent and doesn’t need Q for survival. However, in the alternative story of the dinosaurs era, he is shown as an accepting person but still abandons his son. This quote shows Q’s ignorance and personality when he says it wasn’t possible meaning he’s tried before on and on again but have failed. These quotes also show how it is almost a competition to bring Uncle back when one person would get a higher position. Q, being unaware of his surroundings and the requirements Uncle needs to survive, causes him to think poorly of Uncle when he doesn’t move back home with him.