This is a very important quote because it relates to
Antonio's sighting of the golden carp, and clearly presents the golden carp as another
deity. To truly understand this quotation in isolation, you need to examine its usage in
context. It appears in Chapter 21 of this novel, when Antonio tells us that he is still
concerned about the limitations of his Catholic faith, and the way that God was "silent"
during communion. As Antonio discusses his doubts about God with Cico, Cico responds in
a very interesting way:
"There are many gods," Cico whispered, "gods of
beauty and magic, gods of the garden, gods in our own backyards--but we go off to
foreign countries to find new ones, we reach to the stars to find new
ones--"
As if to reinforce
this belief in the presence of other gods that surround us, if we only have eyes to
notice them, the golden carp appears, and the quote you have highlighted indicates
clearly the way in which the golden carp is one of these other deities, as it seems to
make Antonio forget his questions and his uncertainty about religion. Thus this quote is
important as it represents the view that there are many gods, and that no one god or
religion can hold all the answers that we need. This is of course a key theme in this
excellent novel.
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