According to Darwin's theory, fish are our ancestors, which means that the ocean can be called the cradle of mankind, which we left millions of years ago and moved to land. But man could never live under water. Although the sea and the ocean always fed him, but they could easily take life.
That is why many people are afraid of water, some even do not know how to swim, shy away from water. For us, the ocean is not a house, furrowing its waters, we are visiting him. Sometimes he behaves like a hospitable host, he is affectionate and affable, but sometimes he is formidable and evil, and when he is not in the spirit, he must be very, very careful, otherwise he will not be seriously greeted.
Only one person felt “like a fish in water” in the ocean and on the seas. Meet who has not heard of him - Ichthyander. This is the hero of the fantastic work of Alexander Belyaev. If you translate this name from the ancient Greek language, you get a "man-fish." The name is very suitable for him, because he could breathe underwater like a fish, for a long time not rise to the surface, swam no worse than a dolphin (although a dolphin is not a fish, but Ichthyander is comparable in swimming agility with this wonderful and intelligent mammal), with easily descended to great depths.
Ichthyander is a fictional character, but it is described so vividly and figuratively that it seems that somewhere in the Pacific Ocean this romantic of the sea is still exploring ships that have sunk hundreds of years ago and find cities that went under the water thousands of years ago.
He is still lonely, since it is very difficult for him to find a life partner, because not every girl is ready to marry a very unusual guy, whom sailors call nothing more than “sea devil”.
But the truth is: what kind of desperate need to be? Although, one such brave beauty was still found. Her name is Guttiere - she is also the heroine of Alexander Belyaev’s science fiction story Amphibian Man.
Thirst for profit and romance
Many people are attracted by the thirst for wealth, it was she who caused so many problems to our hero and his few friends. Dr. Salvator made his named son Ichthyander double-breathing not in order to become famous as a brilliant scientist and heal "on a large scale." No, he just decided once to give a not-so-healthy child a new, bright underwater world, to make him happy with new opportunities.
But there are few such people as Salvator, much more than those who saw in the possibilities of Ichthyander only a path to success and money. They became the source of the troubles of a naive and kind young man with shark gills.
Why Argentina and why "man-fish"?
The scene of the novel was Argentina. So Belyaev decided. Ichthyander became a resident of this South American country, because the writer once read one unusual article from a newspaper. It talked about the trial in the Argentine capital.
They tried the doctor who conducted experiments on Native American children in order to make their limbs more mobile. This story attracted the attention of Belyaev, but not only she became his inspiration.
There was also the book “Iktaner and Moisette”, written by Jean de la Irem, which told the fate of a man-shark who fell victim to fanatics who decided to crush the world under themselves.
Illiterate sailor - that is how illiterate sailors called Ichthyandra, attributing to him overnight such atrocities as the sinking of ships and the killing of innocent fishermen. The main character was much more correct to be called the "angel of the sea", because this not-so-human and not at all fish looked at people with the clean eyes of a kind and naive child who does not want anyone to harm and is ready to sacrifice his life for them.
Its absolute opposite is Zurita, who in his first appearance appears before the readers as an evil, greedy, cruel man - a real messenger of hell.
Antipodes
It is easy to feel, reading the lines of the book "Amphibian Man" that the meeting of Zurita and Ichthyander does not bode well for the latter. This is what happens. The confrontation of evil and good, prison and freedom - this is the main idea of ​​this fantastic work. Zurita wants to force the "sea devil" to work for himself, to bring him pearls from the bottom, thereby depriving Ikhthyander of freedom. But, unfortunately, the hero is already deprived of it.
Father Ihtiandra, hiding behind the pompous words about the improvement of man, endowed his son with shark gills. It is clear that a person breathing like a fish, even if living on Earth, will not be perceived by his society.
It turns out that Ichthyander is an outcast, in every sense not the same as everyone, and his creator acted very short-sightedly, condemning his patient to torment and suffering - not only physical, but also mental. Ichthyander is an innocent victim who suffered for his exclusivity.
The life goals of the villain and hero
Zurita, the antipode of Ichthyander, has completely different values ​​than "amphibian man." The first value money, he wants to get pearls only in order to get rich. This is his goal, his blue dream.
But Zurita is one of many, around a thousand of the same callous and greedy people like him. For example, jailers from the same story agreed to release the prisoner if they were paid for with pearls.
Of course, Ichthyander is not like them. For him, money is an empty phrase, he does not need the wealth and benefits that he buys. For him, the main thing in life is freedom, love and the ocean, of course.
The happiness and troubles of Ichthyander
Salvator was generous and greedy at the same time, he handed the sea to Ichthyander, but deprived him of land, thereby moving the latter away from people to an unimaginably far distance. Ichthyander lives in a barrel, this is why his land world is limited. He does not have to choose between sea and land, he was forced to live in water by his father, who for some reason decided to rise above nature and turn back the evolutionary development of man.
Is love flour?
Ichthyander is undoubtedly a sufferer. Not knowing love, for a long time he was content with what he is. He was happy with everything until he had to save Guttiere.
This meeting can be called fatal, because then Ichthyander, who gave his heart to a saved girl, stopped enjoying life. Beloved Ichthyander is a girl of surprising purity, but even she became the cause of the suffering of the "sea devil."
Ichthyander, engulfed in the flames of love, rushed into the city, full of mysteries, revelations and disappointments. For her sake, he began to know people. But the “amphibian man”, even if we love a girl, will still remain unhappy, a creature alien to this world.
Finale as the beginning
In the fate of people, nothing has changed. Salvator continued his scientific research, Zurita did not give up pearls, Guttiere started a family with a good man. Only Ihthyander and his new father, Balthazar, are unhappy, who, after his son forever left the shores of Argentina, has almost gone mad.
The “fish man”, sent by the scientist across the ocean to his friend, is unlikely to find the long-awaited happiness there. As Salvator said, he will serve science, and this is his calling. Ichthyander will never have a personal life, human.
Salvator, a representative of science, mercilessly invaded the fate of his ward. For the sake of scientific achievements, he simply trampled the future of Ichthyander, hid it behind the walls of loneliness, forever left it in the world of fish, estranged from normal life.
It seems that the scientist did not feel the pain of conscience , because he believed that the creation of Ichthyander would serve the benefit of people in the future.
Mythology
The ability to live under water and on land has always been a person's dream. But at the same time, the water scared, because through it sometimes nothing can be seen, and what happens at the bottom, no one knows. Therefore, such mythological characters as drowned, water, and sea devils began to appear.
Adventurous natures longed to go to the bottom to find treasures and treasures there in the holds of sunken ships, but an unknown scarecrow also them. And there were no opportunities to walk along the bottom, as divers now do, in those days. People were afraid, therefore they themselves frightened their children with mermaids, sirens, newts.
Amphibian man in modern cinema and games
In computer games and films of the fantasy genre, such characters as sea elves and mermaids are very often involved. They have unusual powers for humans.
Jokes about amphibian man
Mostly humor is associated with the theme of loneliness of Ichthyander. So that he does not suffer in the depths of the sea, the bride is offered the Little Mermaid, the heroine of Disney cartoons, who also spent all her time in the underwater world. Internet users write that these two would make up a wonderful and happy couple.