According to the speaker of the poem, both goldfish experience a sense of isolation, and the speaker of the poem explores this theme both within the context of the goldfishes’ romantic relationship and within the context of their life in the physical environment of the fishbowl. The reader must suspend their sense of disbelief in order to appreciate this particular message of the poem and to understand that loneliness is an unavoidable aspect of both the human condition and, perhaps, the piscine condition.

The speaker of the poem establishes the male goldfish’s sense of loneliness and isolation early in the poem. The male goldfish has a companion in the fishbowl, which suggests that his sense of isolation appears to be more an existential state of mind than a literal one. It is in this lonely state that the reader both meets the male goldfish and leaves him at the end of the poem; though he eventually starts a relationship with his female companion, their relationship does not last.

The female goldfish literally shares her companion’s state of isolation as they live in the same fishbowl, yet her attempts to engage with the male goldfish suggest she has stronger social impulses than her lover.