Akemi Dawn Bowman reveals the story of Starfish to present a perspective of a young adult named Kiko trying to mature in a world controlled by her mother's selfishness. Akemi Dawn Bowman enhances the reading experience by reminding the reader of the symbol of a starfish to represent the ongoing conflict that affects the main protagonist, Kiko. Kiko has always had to endure struggles on her path to enter a career of art by her mother’s egoistic nature.  However, when she’s given the opportunity to travel away from her mom to California, Kiko matures and obtains true acceptance and independence for herself by escaping her mom’s mental prison. The author’s use of a starfish is a symbol for Kiko’s mom selfishness because of how the symbol is used by characters such as Kiko, the metaphorical interpretation of always wanting to have attention and to be satisfied by Hiroshi, as well as how the author uses  the title Starfish on the physical display of the book.

To start off, the characters of Starfish use the symbol to describe self centered characters such as Hiroshi’s father and Kiko’s mom. They use starfish to refer to them as having negative impacts on people’s lives because of their greed to care about themselves only. In a specific instance, Kiko devotes a large amount of time and feeling to paint her mother as a starfish in Hiroshi’s studio because of his interpretation that a starfish represents someone who is obsessed with attention (Bowman 339). As well as Hiroshi who describes his own father as a starfish because he could never satisfy his father’s personal greed. (Bowman 233) Characters use starfish as an term to describe egotistical characters in a common pattern throughout the book.

Furthermore, Hiroshi classifies and introduces the symbol to Kiko in relation to his father. As he stated, “I thought I was the problem. But people are just starfish-they need everyone to fill the roles that they assign” Hiroshi’s father was given the name starfish at his funeral for his greedy nature (Bowman 233). Thanks to Hiroshi’s interpretation, Kiko can start to compare her mother into a starfish and later on explain to her why she is a poor mother. Characters like Hiroshi support a sense of direction for Kiko to overcome the tyranny of her narcissistic mother. Because Hiroshi is able to define the symbol of a starfish and provide an example, Kiko obtains courage to develop independence from her mother.

Lastly, Akemi Dawn Bowman makes attention to the book title which just so happens to the word Starfish. Regarding what Hiroshi and Kiko paint their specific parents to be (selfish and self centered)  Starfish centers all the attention. On the back Bowman writes, “I draw a small fish swimming in the ocean and realizing it’s filled with planet and stars” which can be interpreted in many ways. One of which Kiko is the little fish always getting held back by her mother (the starfish), but when she starts to swim away she explores the huge and wonderful world that her mom keeps her from experiencing. Those experiences consisting of her accepting her Asian heritage, passion for art, and love for Jamie. The author uses figurative language on the physical book cover that readers can define as the starfish wanting attention from the little fish.

Akemi Dawn Bowman beautifly centers the attention the true meaning of a starfish by emphasizing how it describes characters, defined by characters, as well as using the physical cover herself. Starfish symbolizes the main conflict for Kiko is her narcissistic mother. However, when she gets the opportunity to break that mental prison kept by her mother by running away to California and making relationships with supportive characters, Kiko obtain acceptance for her Asian heritage, find love, andmature into a independent adult. Starfish does not only a symbolize selfishness from a person, but is also a lesson that readers can learn from. Readers become educated on how negative and positive influencers can impact the world drastically. So to conclude, avoid becoming the person that makes life more complicated for others, don’t be a starfish.