Aleksandar Hemon's story, "The Aquarium: A Child's Isolating Illness," tells the story of his daughter, Isabel, as she struggles through her brain tumor A.T.R.T. The effects of her journey cause Hemon to know that he does not wish to know about the details of her disease to ensure that his imagination doesn't spin out of control. He expresses that his imagination does not bear fruit or causes bad things to happen. However, to a child, like Ella, Isabel's older sister, imagination is a way to open doors to communication. It opens the door for her to convey her thoughts and which transform into the external Mingus. .
Hemon expresses that he has been cursed with imagining the worst of a situation. He cannot control his compulsive catastrophic imagination (5) He conveys to the reader that he had noticed Isabels large head which seemed somewhat asymmetrical before her diagnosis. His observations lead to only question in his mind What if she has a brain tumor? (5) So, when the diagnosis finally came, he was sure his worst imagination had come to fruition. So, after he found out about Isabel's disease, he controlled his desire from learning any more information regarding the subject. He does so solely because he knows that he cannot control his mind from spinning out scenarios. He doesnt want to imagine the worst because he wouldn't be able to see his daughter go through any more struggles or the idea of his losing her; he also doesn't wish to imagine her recovery because he doesn't want to build himself up on false hopes. He, along with his wife waited for something to reveal itself, too afraid to imagine what it might be. He wished just to stay anchored into the moment. .
Hemon, through his language, conveys to the reader that humans are blessed with imagination that they cannot control. We(as humans) cannot control every scenario that our mind cooks up, and the inability to control leads to further imaginations of the outcomes of said imagination.
