A Greimassian Reading of Samad Behrangi’s Little Black Fish:Actantial Model

The purpose of this paper is to analyze Samad Behrangi’s Little Black Fish based on the actantial model proposed by the structuralist critic Julien Greimas. Actantial model analyzes literary and non-literary texts and assumes actions as actants in these texts, and since Little Black Fish contains complex character with complex actions the story is a fertile ground for actantial analysis. Indeed, through a close reading of the text, the actants of subject, object, helper, opponent, sender and receiver on three axes of desire, power and transmission will be analyzed to show how the character of little black fish in the story has several actants which make us think of the fish as a multi-faceted character. In a more specific context, this essay goes through the minor or marginalized actants to reveal the actantial subclasses in the story. This matter will become essential to our actantial reading of the story’s text if we pay enough attention not only to actual actants but also to what Greimas called possible actants