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Norman MacLean A River Runs Through It
Norman MacLean A River Runs Through It
Norman MacLean A River Runs Through It
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Relationships in Norman MacLean's A River Runs Through It
"Eventually the watcher joined the river, and there was only one of us. I believe it was the river." The river that Norman Maclean speaks of in A River Runs Through It works as a connection, a tie, holding together the relationships between Norman and his acquaintances in this remote society. Though "It" is never outwardly defined in the novella there is definite evidence "It" is the personality of the people and that the river is running through each individual personality acting as the simple thread connecting this diverse group of people.
With the help of the river these Montana residents are able to teach as well as learn from each other. Since the time of the Indians, fathers have been teaching sons the ways of the river and the Maclean family is no different. Paul and Norman learn from a young age first how to pray, read the Bible, and then fly fish from their father. For the Maclean family "there is no clear line between religion and fly-fishing" and their father is a Presbyterian preacher who incorporates all these lessons into the river. He carefully transitions from telling them "about Christ's disciples being fishermen" to teaching them "to approach the art (of fly-fishing) Marine- and Presbyterian- style" alongside the river. Along this river his sons receive "as many hours of instruction in fly fishing as in all other spiritual matters" making the river a pivotal part of everyday life.
"Although Paul was three years younger than Norman?he was already far ahead in anything relating to fishing" by their early teens. Paul quickly passes Norman and his father in skillful fishing but more than that he acquired more style. His father...
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...y and as expected Norman "is blamed for Neal." Norman is able to put his anger quickly behind him however, when he and Paul go on a fishing trip to "recuperate." He looks to "fishing for the healing effects of the cool waters" of the river. He quickly becomes lost in his fishing, so completely that he becomes "totally composed of thoughts about the Elkhorn River, the weather, and a mythological fish" and not a single thought of his dying anger.
Characters are bound to each other by the river and through their common love of the river. Sometimes the only thing they have in common is this mutual love. This Montana community is entwined in the river that runs through it. All the characters obviously feel the same as Norman when he says "I also became the river."
Work Cited
MacLean, Norman. A River Runs Through It. University of Chicago Press, 1989.
In his novel, Saints at the River, Ron Rash develops the struggle to maintain the environment as well as spiritual peace. A young girl has drowned, and is now trapped, in the Tamassee River, bringing grief and sorrow to Oconee County. The father, Herb Kowalsky, is very troubled and tries to find help from anyone. This incident brings numerous diverse individuals together to support the Kowalsky family. One of the main supporters is a writer, Allen Hemphill, who felt great empathy toward the family. Although Allen and Herb are very different men, they display similar qualities throughout the novel. Some of their similar features include being outsiders from Oconee County, sufferers of family tragedy, and crusaders to bring
Barry defines the Mississippi’s unpredictability through an “uncoiling rope.” One cannot experience an act such as that of an uncoiling rope, in it’s smooth, but quick movements. Its destination cannot be anticipated and its course of action can only be speculated. By using a single phrase, like “uncoiling rope,” Barry guides his audience to a complete picture of the fascinating Mississippi. He gives life to the Mississippi by relating it to a snake. His snake-related diction, such as “roils” and “uncoiling” present the river with lifelike qualities that extend Barry’s purpose in saying that the incredible river can actually stand on it’s own. Furthermore, Barry describes the river in similes in order to compare the Mississippi to a snake, in a sense of both power and grace. The river “devours itself”, “sucking” at the surface around it, and “scouring out holes” in its depths. Barry’s combination of personifying diction and similes provide his audience with a relation in which one understands the Mississippi’s paradox of strength and unpredictability, and
The story Duncan’s Way is about a boy named Duncan who lived in Newfoundland for really long he likes to fish he asked his dad to go fishing and his dad always says maybe later or just ignores him, but I read more Duncan’s ALL THE COD IN THE SEA HAS JUST DISSAPERED BUT THERE ARE SOME REASONS THE First REASON IS MAYBE ALL THE foreign factory ships might have sucked up ALL THE FISH FROM THE OCEAN OR PEOPLE like Duncan’s dad father overfished all the cod but all Duncan’s father mostly does is Sit on the couch and watch tv or is just Talking to his buddies and just doing nothing he is really isolating him self from
James Duncan’s book entitled, The River Why, focuses around the main character, Gus, and how he changes throughout the book. In this book Gus is discovering what life really is and that the whole world does not revolve around fishing. After moving out of his erratic house he spends all of his time fishing at his remote cabin, but this leaves him unhappy and a little insane. He embarks on a search for him self and for his own beliefs. Duncan changes Gus throughout the book, making Gus realize that there are more important things to life than fishing, and these things can lead to a happy fulfilled life, which in turn will help Gus enjoy life and fishing more. Duncan introduces a character, Eddy, who significantly changes Gus’s views on what he needs in his life and she gives Gus a sense of motivation or inspiration. Eddy changes Gus by their first encounter with each other, when Eddy instills in Gus a need to fulfill his life and when they meet up again, completing his need. Fishing is Gus’s first passion but he loses it after he puts all of himself into it, and when Eddy comes into his picture Gus feels a need to have more in his life, like love. Through finding love he re-finds his passion for fishing and learns more about himself. When Eddy and Gus finally get together, he sees this “equilibrium” between his old passion, fishing, and his new one, Eddy. Duncan’s use of Eddy gives Gus a new found sense of purpose and to have a more fulfilled life is a critical step in Gus’s development as a character. This is why Eddy is the most important character to this book, because she gives Gus inspiration to find himself.
In the beginning of the story the presence of water symbolizes the physical and mental freedom the young couple share. The story begins with Jamie driving on the way home, to the lake house, after a long day of work. In the car Jamie yearns “ to be unchained in the weightlessness of the water” (203). The physical act of being weightless symbolizes her mental weightlessness or freedom. Jamie and Matt make love in water which enforces the connection they have with themselves and the mental and physical freedom they feel.
The Rivers family lives in the projects, which are known as Henry Horner Homes. This is a public housing development for individuals who cannot afford other housing. The area around the housing development is taken over by gangs, where murders and shootings happen almost every day. Friends of the Rivers family ended up getting murdered on the streets because of drugs and gangs. LaJoe, their mother, raises the children with the occasional help of their father Paul. Their father is sometimes absent in the children’s life’s due to his drug addiction. Throughout the book, LaJoe was afraid that she would lose her sons from gangs that surround their neighborhood. Lafayette is forced to help his mother around the house and work a side job - washing cars near a stadium to help his mother save money. But Lafayette sometimes hangs out with the wrong crowd. For example, when Lafayette was with his friends at a video store, he got convinced to steal a tape, but ended up getting caught by the store manager. LaJoe was terrified that Lafayette was going to turn out like his older brother Terrence, who got incarcerated for armed robbery. Toward the end of the book, Lafayette was arrested for allegedly breaking into a truck and had to go to court and was found guilty. As for Pharaoh, he was always the child who impressed LaJoe when it came to school. He loved the spelling bee and
I am reading “The Bass, The River, And Sheila Mant” by W.D Wetherell and i am on page 3. So far this book is about a boy who falls in love with this girl and they ended up going on a date. On their way down the river to their date the boy catches a big bass, however his date hates fishing and he is left with a choice. In this journal i will be Questioning and connecting to the story.
All the major life changing events take place at the river; Fish drowns then gets brought back to life, Rose and Quick find love in eachother, Quick and his mother open up to each other and then finally Fish dies there. The river is a recurring symbol throughout Tim Winton's novel Cloudstreet that reinforces the themes of family, love, spirituality and determination in the search for completeness. The main setting is formed through symbolism, where Quick explains "all the important things that have happened to me, have happened near the river." Rose and Quick make the decision to be married on the river, the black angel' walks on the river and tells quick to go back to his family, illuminating fish congregate into Quick's boat, and Fish and Quick are enveloped by the stars on the river. Additionally, "even the only miracle that ever happened to you" happened near the river. The character who is most associated with the river is Fish Lamb. "The river of life" is a biblical reference, as it is where you are renewed and in the act of baptism, sins are washed away. However, when Fish drowns, the reader learns that "not all of Fish Lamb had come back”, when Oriel resuscitates Fish back to
The two rivers intermingle, showing the boys’ changes from immature individuals to slightly older and wiser men. Sooner or later, Gene and Phineas, who at the beginning of the novel are extremely immature, have to face reality. Signs of their maturity appear when the boys have a serious conversation about Finny’s accident. Finny realizes that Gene did shake the tree limb purposely so that he would fall. However, he knows that this action was spontaneous, and that Gene was never meant to cause him life-long grief.
I am reading “ The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant” by W.D Wetherell. This story is about a boy who loves fishing and a girl next door. He decides to go on a date with her but in the end has to choose will it be the girl or the fish. In this journal I will be questioning and
The son had devised a way to tell his father that he would like to fishing with Bill instead of him alone so that the son may teach Bill. Without offering the dad to join, the boy ask the dad if he can go fishing with Bill “... If you don’t mind I’ll get up early in the morning and meet Harper and he and I will go fishing” (32-34). Trumbo does not use quotations when the boy is speaking, so in turn it speeds up the passage, mirroring the way the boy is asking the father if he is allowed to go fish with Bill. This important because it is showcasing that the son cares for the relationship although he wishes to fish with Bill, marking the first time fishing with someone else. The relationship in this part of the passage is shown to be patchy as the son still cares but wish to do new
Sethe left Sweet Home pregnant with Denver, "and ran off with no one's help" (p.224). She ran scared and fearful of the trackers following her trail. Sethe met Amy Denver, a white woman, on her way to Ohio. Amy helped Sethe find the Ohio River. The river was "one mile of dark water.[and] it looked like home to her and the baby"(p.83). When Amy left, Sethe traveled downstream and met Stamp Paid. He helped her and Denver cross the river to freedom.&nbs away the memories of Sweet Home and began her life with Denver at 124. Water represents the transition of Sethe's slave life to her life of freedom. Again, water has cleansed the soul of the sin of slavery. The river is now a barrier. It separates Sethe's life of slavery, to her new life of freedom. Water introduces the end of Sethe's life without Beloved and the transformation of Beloved from a spirit to a physical being. Beloved emerged from the river fully clothed and nineteen years old. Beloved's emergence from the river symbolizes her new life in the world. She was no longer trapped in 124; she was human once again. Beloved had "new skin, lineless and smooth, including the knuckles of her hands" (p.50). She was new and unused.
First, the old man receives outer success by earning the respect and appreciation of the boy and the other fishermen. The boy is speaking to the old man in his shack after the old man’s long journey, “You must get well fast for there is much that I can learn and you can teach me everything” (Hemmingway 126). The boy appreciates the fact that the old man spends time to teach him about fishing. He respects him a great deal for he knows that the old man is very wise and is a magnificent fisherman. The fellow fishermen also show respect towards the old man as they note the size of the fish after the old man returns home, “What a fish it was, there has never been such a fish” (123). The men admire the fact that the old man has caught the biggest fish that they have seen. Many fishermen resented Santiago at first, however their opinion changed once they realized what the old man has gone through. Being admired by others plays a major role in improving one’s morale.
The first thing to see, looking away over the water, was a kind of dull line - that was the woods on t'other side; you couldn't make nothing else out; then a pale place in the sky; then more paleness spreading around; then the river softened up away off, and warn't black any more, but gray; you could see little dark spots drifting along ever so far away-trading-scows, and such things; and long black streaks-rafts ... and by and by you could see a streak on the water which you know by the look of the streak that there's a snag there in a swift current which breaks on it and makes that streak look that way; and you see the mist curl up off of the water, and the east reddens up.
In “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, the river stands as a symbol of endlessness, geographical awareness, and the epitome of the human soul. Hughes uses the literary elements of repetition and simile to paint the river as a symbol of timelessness. This is evident in the first two lines of the poem. Hughes introduces this timeless symbol, stating, “I've known rivers: I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins” (Hughes 1-2). These opening lines of the poem identifies that the rivers Hughes is speaking about are older than the existence of human life. This indicates the rivers’ qualities of knowledge, permanence, and the ability to endure all. Humans associate “age” with these traits and the longevity of a river makes it a force to be reckoned with. The use of a simile in the line of the poem is to prompt the audience that this is truly a contrast between that ancient wisdom, strength, and determination of the river and the same qualities that characterize a human being. The imagery portrayed in the poem of blood flowing through human veins like a river flows ...