Essay on Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It

Located in the heart of downtown Cedar Rapids this Historical brick building with its’ decorative molding and beautiful stain glass windows is the home of a subculture of biblically based Christians. This church family meets every Sunday like many churches who revere Sunday as being the Lord’s day, set aside for rest and worship of God. Biblically based Christianity is a vast culture of faith in God carried out by many subcultures called churches, made up of people who seek to worship God and to foster a personal relationship with him. One of the most important things that make a subculture is a question of what is it that brings these people together? This foundational question is not only the question of the subculture, but is also the defining

The excerpt from Chris Offutt’s The Same River Twice depicts his hitchhiking as a young adult. “The guts of America unfolded in every direction as I traveled the interstate bloodstream” is a metaphor that describes the circulatory nature of American interstates, and implies that Offutt knows them well. Bill, Offutt’s employer, is introduced having “always wore some article of military clothing” thus implying his background, but being “prone to silent crying, apropos of nothing.” which implies his vulnerability.

In saying he knows how the river was made, Norman demonstrates his own self-awareness and understanding of himself. He knows who he is because his life and memories are the river. Building on the theme of identity, Maclean writes extensively on the geological history of the river. He explains the formation of it through glacial movement, its deposition patterns, and exact meander pattern, as well as the location and types of fishing pools (73). Making the geology a cynosure of his work again demonstrates Norman’s dedication to understanding the historical elements that formed its identity. Then, extrapolating this to himself, he reinforces the idea that having a deep understanding of the river’s formation allows him to better understand his own.

Between the Mexican state of Chiapas and the Guatemalan department of San Marcos flows a seemingly insignificant stream. Deriving its name from the Nahuatl word Xochiatl, the Suchiate river is both a membrane and a vessel. Between its banks, lies a basin of placid blue which swiftly gives way to narrow inlets of muddy brown. At these thin arms, the water does not run unaccompanied on its journey; instead, the brown body, soaked in a fleeting dream, permeated by a notion of progress, joins as a fellow traveler. Carefully placing driftwood atop thick inner tubes, the bodies float across the thinnest river veins as though blood and water were equally worthy of passage. Their expressions are calm, if not casual altogether, as they travel from east

On a similar note, by dissociating oneself from the literality, one finds in symbolic expressions, such as those of poetry and biblical stories, important truths that help humanity be aware of instances whose circumstances prevent the literality from being considered, such as in the case of moral arguments and moral relationships, as suggested in William James’ essay, “The Will to Believe.” James repudiates “solutions without sensible proof” in moral arguments. Arguably, religious experiences themselves are of moral nature, as they ultimately dictate which values and morals one depicts in everyday life. William James furthermore repudiates Pascal’s attempt at rationalizing belief in a theistic God-- he discourages thinking of religious experience theistically, claiming it is a misinterpretation. To emphasize, religious experiences must be seen in a spiritual light, as religious experiences are often too mundane and earthly to be used as rationalization for God’s existence. Henceforth in religious experiences, passional tendencies and personal proof factor into a belief like theistic or nontheistic religion. When faced with a genuine option-- one that is live, forced, and momentous-- one must allow passional tendencies to rule due to the subjective nature of the context. There are multiple solutions to one

Lecture 19, aptly titled ‘Other Characteristics’, deals with a wide variety of subject matter, including institutional religion, prayer and the relationship between religion and the subconscious. In terms of organized religion, James states that room must be given for personal religious experience, as it is insufficient to provide adequate converts on its own. Prayer is deemed a fundamental aspect of practice utilised by those throughout the centuries who have had direct religious experiences. In summarizing his series in the final lecture, James expressed the need for toleration of religious diversity and allowance for individuals to pursue their course: ‘some men have the completer experience and the higher vocation, here just as in the social world; but for each man to stay in his own experience, whate’er it be, and for others to tolerate him there, is surely best’. This is necessary because the intellectual underpinning is that there is something wrong with us and that this can be rectified by ‘making the proper connection with the higher powers’. For this reason, a higher value must be given to experience and feeling over thought. In terms of trying to make sense of how this union with God takes place in a scientific context, James argues that the subconscious serves as a conduit through which ‘the further limits of our being plunge, it seems to me, into an altogether other dimension of existence from the sensible and merely “understandable” world’. For James, religious experiences are a reality although they cannot be satisfactorily explained in wholly philosophical or scientific terms: ‘The only thing that it unequivocally testifies to is that we can experience union with something larger than ourselves and in that union find our greatest

In "Big Two Hearted River" by Ernest Hemingway Nick Atoms is returning home to the town of Seney after coming back from war. After returning home he realizes that everything has changed. Nick found that all the houses were gone and he thought to himself that Seney looked like a "burned-over stretch of hillside." The only thing left other than the railroad was the deep, fast moving, stream of water. Nick got a little emotional looking at all of the trout in the stream because it reminded him of when he use to fish there. Nick began hiking up the road trying to find something else that was left in Seney. Finally settling down for the night Nick built him a tent out of pine and wood, then he made himself a big dinner out of stuff that he had

No two men are exactly alike, not even identical twins. Some attributes, appearance, and ideology may mirror, but no two men are alike. Differences in how the world is perceived will allow this individual to stand together, but appear far apart. The modern method of writing allows for individuals do exactly that, stand together, but appear to be fair. Writers Ernest Hemingway and T.S. Eliot demonstrated such disassociation in living deliberately in time and place of Nick and J. Alfred Prufrock.

Have you ever stopped to consider what the world would be like without faith? When speaking about faith, author Dan Brown once said, “That is the definition of faith -- acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove”. Although, we can neither see nor touch it, it is something profoundly missed once gone. This realization was enough to send Young Goodman Brown down a road of despair. In this story, faith takes on multiple meanings and roles. We’ll explore Goodman’s faith in religion, faith in others and his wife, so suitably named, Faith.

1. “The Anacostia River is a metaphor for the way poor people and minorities are treated” (Hoover). In 1994, the Anacostia River was fourth on the list of American Rivers' “Most Endangered Rivers” (Rynor). Since the late 19 th century the water quality in this river has slowly declined with the onset of urbanization and industrialization and the pollution that accompanies this growth. The Anacostia is severely polluted with “sediment, nutrients, pathogens, toxins, and trash” (“Cleaning”). And it is no coincidence that the river runs through some of Washington D.C.'s poorest communities in the south-eastern sections of the city.

The river was beautiful while Twain went over the Mississippi. He had never seen anything like this, and to the passenger’s eyes that haven’t seen it, it was astonishing to the eye that hasn’t been trained with such majesty. Since he was a steamboat pilot, he had to experience the river and learn it, and there were many different features and secrets that had to be discovered. This meant that people were able to dig deeper and see straight through the river’s deep, dark secrets. Not a single man or woman has found out about the Mississippi’s truth.

For in the story Faithful gets burned and then Hopeful accompanies Christian until they reach Heaven/The Celestial City. Despite this silly inclusion, we made a serious point, in that John Bunyan uses the long dialogues in the story to assert Protestant truth against Legalism, Catholic Doctrinal leanings, Atheism, and the like. Even though the burning of Faithful and the introduction of Hopeful in Christian’s journey is not an example of such a dispute in the text, we used it as such to make the point that John Bunyan used this fictional work to teach real Theological truths during a time when there was serious debate regarding such

In today’s modern world there is a clear rise of unbelief and modern culture is increasingly leaning more towards the secular. Richard J. Bernstein, discusses how “the shift to secularity consists of a move from a society where belief in God is unchallenged and indeed, unproblematic, to one in which it is understood to be one option among others, and frequently not the easiest to embrace”. Less people are attending church and more individuals are seeking resolution and purpose else where. Despite the secularization that is evident within modern society, there are new cultural practices and changing beliefs that are being implemented within the church to bridge this secular divide. This is demonstrated through individual religious organizations

In the following pages I will discuss this metaphor, as well as Rudolf Otto and his theories on the creation of religion, Peter L. Berger’s theory of “the sacred canopy,” and finally the intermingling of these two theories in the evolution of religion.

Sharp piercing shouts, belonging to my elder brothers, blare throughout woods. Following the sound of his voice, I navigate through the fog to find the source of clamor. I bumble past branches as I awkwardly lug my game in my hefty bag. Upon finding them, Peter calls my attention to the most majestic composition of nature ever beheld by the eyes of man. The Great Conductor’s glorious touch perfectly aligning all aspects of this spectacle. Radiant beams of light illuminate the masterpiece. Beautifully detailed shrubbery outlines the painting. Warm, vibrant blue water cascades off the carefully chiseled cliff and into a pond teeming with life and activity. The waters of Eden left flawlessly untouched.