The Cat in the Hat Project

Option 1:

In the story, "The Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Sues, the fish contributes to the plot and theme of the story by ways of his attitude and actions throughout this piece of work, otherwise, his personality. At the beginning of the story, we see the fish upset with an angry face when the cat invites himself into the house. Several times throughout the story, the fish tells the cat that he shouldn't be there, when the children's mother is out. For this reason, the fish contributes to the plot and theme of the story as being the role of the baby sitter, trying to be responsible, and trying to stop the cat and his actions. The quote, "No! No! Make that cat go away..." (page 11) supports my claim that the fish dislikes the cat in the hat being there. One could argue that he is putting a negative spin on the situation, however he is being responsible, like a baby sitter mentioned before.

The fish drives the story along through his actions in trying to make the cat leave. His personality is one of rules, where he believes that things should be a certain way, and nothing else. His attitude and what he says to the cat eventually drives the narrator of the book and his sister Sally to take responsibility for themselves and tell the cat to leave. This being said, the fish's constant remarks about the cat not belonging there drives the events in the story to the point where the cat eventually does leave the house.
Also, the way the fish looks influences characters and events in the story. On page 25, for example, the fish looks angry at the cat, for he is frowning and is glaring at the cat. He is telling the cat what he did wrong. The angry face tells us that the fish is not pleased with the cat being there, and doing that stuff. The way the fish describes what bad things the cat did possibly made the cat think twice about what he was doing, and if it is his place to be there. However, one could also argue that the fish saying that stuff drove the cat to try harder to be funny or continue what he was doing. Either way, the fish drove the events in the story.
The final thing that I want to discuss about the fish's contributions to the story is his influence on the children. In the story, the narrator and his sister Sally (the two kids) basically sit back and watch, instead of acting on the situation. The fish's remarks about the cat being there finally drives the Narrator and Sally to take charge and responsibility in getting the cat to leave. The fish's words finally get through to the children.

That being said, the fish possibly influences the cat to continue doing what he is doing (just trying harder), the children to take responsibility, and eventually the cat leaving the house, all through the fish's actions and personality.