The Third Bank of the River
Confusion, embarrassment, and guilt can all be found throughout João Guimarães Rosa's short story "The Third Bank of the River." Rosa forces the reader to analyze his words and delve deeply into the hidden meanings behind them. Upon first glance, a story unfolds of a father who seemingly abandons his family and chooses to live out the remainder of his life rowing a small boat back and forth along a river. There are circumstances leading up to this behavior, which new insight to the author's psychological meaning.
The story develops through the narration of one of the children in the family. His recollection of the days which lead to his father's absence brings a clear image of the family structure he knew when he was a child. The narrator describes his father as "dutiful, orderly," and "straightforward"(200). He is quick to point out, however, who has the final say in the household: "It was mother, not father, who ruled the house" (200). When the father decides to order a boat, made specifically for him, the mother "carriedon plenty about it" (200). When the boat arrives, the father says goodbye to all, and the children expect their mother to carry on about this, but her reaction is mixed. The effectiveness of her orders to her husband, "If you go away, stay away. Don't ever come back," is weakened as she bites her lip and turns very pale. Her authority is reduced further when her son follows his father to the river, feeling "bold and exhilarated" because he risks the wrath of his mother and wins (200). The child feels so vindicated by his rebellious actions that he asks to accompany his father in the boat. However, his father gestures to him to return, and r...
... middle of paper ...
...the son, the father is nothing, and without the father, the son is nothing.
A riverbank can be found where two worlds, earth and water, connect. Any river will have two banks, one on either side of the water. Rosa has created a character who has found a "third bank on the river," a third way to separate land from the sea. This bank belongs to an entirely different world. Rosa has found a way for the father to exist, yet not exist, within the family. He is connected to his family and weighs heavily upon their minds even though he is a part of an entirely different world. He has discovered this link by establishing a "third bank of the river."
Work Cited
Rosa, João Gumarães. "The Third Bank of the River." Trans. William Grossman. Angles of Vision. Ed. Arthur W. Biddle and Toby Fulwiler. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1992. 200-203.
Hemingway presents takes the several literary styles to present this short story. Hemingway’s use of Foreshadowing, Pathos, Imagery and Personification allows the reader to enter the true context of the frustration and struggle that the couples face. Although written in the 1920’s it the presents a modern day conflict of communication that millions of couples face. At first glance the beautiful landscape of the Barcelonian hillside in which Jig refers to frequently throughout the text appears to have taken the form of White Elephants. The Americans’ response to Jigs’ observation was less than enthusiastic as he provides a brief comment and continues on with his cerveza. This was but the first of the many verbal jousts to come between Jig and the American. The metaphorical inferences in those verbal confrontations slowly uncover the couple’s dilemma and why they may be on the waiting for the train to Madrid.
Follow The River by James Alexander Thom is about Mary Ingles gruesome but yet courageous tale of her remarkable 1,000 mile journey home after she had escaped form the captivity of the Shawnee Indians. Through Mary Ingles hard work and determination she proved that all obstacles big and small can be overcome.
The crossing of the Rio Grande into Mexico is an important structural device and symbol in the novel. This is when they enter the ?frame? of the novel in which all the conflicts take place. The crossing of the river naked is symbolic for the cleansing of their souls as well as a new beginning. In only a short time after arriving in Mexico, conflicts start.
In order to develop a real understanding of Raymond Carver’s text, the complex relationship between the father and the daughter must first be understood. The relationship between the girl and her father is the foundation of the entire story, and the ending cannot possibly be understood without a full recognition of how they interact. It is evident that there has been a vast change between the father when he was younger and when he was older with his daughter. Throughout the story that h...
John Cheever and F. Scott Fitzgerald are both 20th century writers whose story’s thematically reflected the despair and the emptiness of life. In both story’s “The Swimmer” and “Babylon Revisited” the main characters undergo similar problems, although they are presented differently in each story. The subject matter of both stories, pertain to the ultimate downfall of a man. “The Swimmer”, conveys the story of a man who swims his way into reality. He at first is very ignorant to his situation; however with the passing of time he becomes cognizant to the idea that he has lost everything. In “Babylon Revisited” the key character is a “recovering alcoholic”, who return to his homeland in hope to get his daughter back. However, problems from his past reemerge and deter his attempt to reunite. Ultimately, both stories share rather inconsolable endings with no direct resolution to their troubles.
After this event, the reader can really see that deep down, the protagonist loves and cares for his father. As he hears his father enter the house babbling gibberish, he begins getting worried.
In today’s civil society, we are taught to show compassion and tolerance towards one other, yet the media portrays society in a different perspective, as being intolerant. In the book The Other Side of the River, writer Alex Kotlowitz reflects on the story of a young black male whose lifeless body was found in the St. Joseph river of Michigan. In this story, Kotlowitz reflects on two communities that are opposite from the other in regards to ethnic background and financial well-being, yet both appear to share the same lack of tolerance towards the other. There is a paragraph were Kotlowitz writes,
This passage defines the character of the narrators’ father as an intelligent man who wants a better life for his children, as well as establishes the narrators’ mothers’ stubbornness and strong opposition to change as key elements of the plot.
The reading of “The Boat” by Alistair Macleod is an interesting and sad story that displays many elements figuratively and literally. The first figurative element is the boat. At a literal perspective, the boat is used for fishing and boat rides, although these are not the only things that the boat represents. We learn that the father in some way, as been sacrificing his working life for his family, for something that he doesn’t absolutely love. This shows that he is in some way trapped, or imprisoned. The boat displays
The story describes the protagonist who is coming of age as torn between the two worlds which he loves equally, represented by his mother and his father. He is now mature and is reflecting on his life and the difficulty of his childhood as a fisherman. Despite becoming a university professor and achieving his father’s dream, he feels lonely and regretful since, “No one waits at the base of the stairs and no boat rides restlessly in the waters of the pier” (MacLeod 261). Like his father, the narrator thinks about what his life could have been like if he had chosen another path. Now, with the wisdom and experience that comes from aging and the passing of time, he is trying to make sense of his own life and accept that he could not please everyone. The turmoil in his mind makes the narrator say, “I wished that the two things I loved so dearly did not exclude each other in a manner that was so blunt and too clear” (MacLeod 273). Once a decision is made, it is sometimes better to leave the past and focus on the present and future. The memories of the narrator’s family, the boat and the rural community in which he spent the beginning of his life made the narrator the person who he is today, but it is just a part of him, and should not consume his present.
The Social, Economic and Political Consequences of the Napoleonic Wars in Portugal The involvement of Portugal in the Napoleonic war was due to its refusal to close its ports to the British, as it had declared a ‘position of inviolable neutrality’ regarding the war. This led to the occupation of Lisbon by the French army on the 1st December 1807. The royal family, the government and members of the royal court all fled to Brazil causing a profound shift in the traditional balance of power between Brazil and Portugal. The status of Brazil was raised until it made a separate kingdom equal to Portugal, diminishing the status of Portugal since the power base was now in Brazil. Initially, Portugal was able to capitalise on its neutral status as trade routes were becoming relatively limited.
In “The Fortune Teller,” the author, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, uses symbolism to prove to one that an affair is not worth a person’s life. He uses the letter to symbolize hate between Villela and Camillo regarding the affair. This very ambiguous letter has terrified Camillo and put an end to his life. The letter enhances the theme of the short story by showing the anger and hate that Villela now had for Camillo. This hate is a focal point in the short story that leads to ending the affair along with Camillo and Rita’s life. Ultimately, the affair caused a large amount of tension between the three. However, the author was successful in grabbing the reader’s attention with the letter as the turning point of the short story.
1.) The natural process that has been occurring is the erosion of the earth between the Mississippi river and the Atchafalaya river. If the erosion and the flooding continue then the water will destroy the land and everything there. For years the head of the Atchafalaya river was blocked by a massive “raft” -a 30 mile log jam- that defined the efforts of settlers to remove it, In 1839, the State of Louisiana began to dislodge the raft and open up the river as a free flowing and navigable stream. The removal of the log jam provided an opportunity for the Atchafalaya river to enlarge, becoming deeper and wider and carry more and more of the Mississippi’s flow. The Atchafalaya river offered the Mississippi river a shorter outlet to the Gulf of Mexico -- 142 miles compared to 315 -- and by 1951 it was apparent that, unless something was done soon, the Mississippi would take the course of the Atchafalaya.
The poem “Exile” by Julia Alvarez dramatizes the conflicts of a young girl’s family’s escape from an oppressive dictatorship in the Dominican Republic to the freedom of the United States. The setting of this poem starts in the city of Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, which was renamed for the brutal dictator Rafael Trujillo; however, it eventually changes to New York when the family succeeds to escape. The speaker is a young girl who is unsophisticated to the world; therefore, she does not know what is happening to her family, even though she surmises that something is wrong. The author uses an extended metaphor throughout the poem to compare “swimming” and escaping the Dominican Republic. Through the line “A hurried bag, allowing one toy a piece,” (13) it feels as if the family were exiled or forced to leave its country. The title of the poem “Exile,” informs the reader that there was no choice for the family but to leave the Dominican Republic, but certain words and phrases reiterate the title. In this poem, the speaker expresser her feeling about fleeing her home and how isolated she feels in the United States.
If one were to travel 36 miles Southeast of Green Bay they would run into a small town known as Two Rivers. Two rivers is located on the coast of Lake Michigan. Two Rivers is surrounded on three sides by the majestic Lake Michigan. Not far from Two Rivers is its sister city Manitowoc.