It felt to me like kind of a desperate but unconscious act on his part: like something he did out of a need for that kind of power we can only get by giving something to somebody else. Scotty clearly doesn't get to do that much in his current situation. The gift fish is a similar gesture: to have something to give seemingly erases Scotty's utter lack of status in his interactions with others: sort of swiftly levels the field. (There's a wonderful short story by John Cheever called "Christmas is a Sad Season for the Poor" which is all about the sense of power inherent in giving - 'licentious benevolence,' he calls it).

For Scotty, it seems to produce the effect he's craving:

"It had been a long time since anyone had thanked me for something. "Thanks," I said, to myself. I said it again and again, wanting to hold in my mind the exact sound of their voices, to feel again the kick of surprise in my chest.

Is there some quality of warm spring air that causes birds to sing more loudly?"

At the risk of wearing my heart on my sleeve, I have to say that in my work I get to have conversations with a lot of people who are basically marginalized or social outcasts, and have seen how that simple social validation - just to talk with someone as an equal and a fellow human being, about almost anything at all - seems to mean so much. Hard for many of us to imagine just how much 'thank you' can mean to someone who doesn't have anything to be thanked for most of the time.