Relationships in Norman MacLean's A River Runs Through It Essay

When the Macleans, especially Norman speaks of the river they are also referring to life, their lives, and themselves. When Norman couldn't

The natural world has a unique power unequivocal to anything human to make one deeply contemplative, introspective, and observant of the universe around them. Norman Maclean testifies to this power in his novella A River Runs Through It. Through his eulogy to the Blackfoot river Norman Maclean captures the human soul and what it means to grow up, his story explaining how a river affects a man. Robert Redford’s movie adaptation, while maintaining the core importance of the Blackfoot river, focuses on the interpersonal relationships Norman develops throughout his life and how those affect his character and life choices. A River Runs through it encapsulates the emotional growth Norman undergoes growing up via his relationship with the river

Characters in the text The Secret River by Kate Grenville represent a variation of attitudes and views towards the colonisation of Australia and the Aboriginal Australians. While many characters are indecisive about their opinion on the natives, some characters have a clear mind-set on how they are to be treated. The characters of Thomas Blackwood and Smasher Sullivan represent the two very different sides of the moral scale, and the other characters fit between these sides. Smasher is a vicious, cold-hearted man who shows no respect or humanity towards the Aboriginals. On the other hand, Blackwood’s character contrasts Smasher with his humanity and general respect to the original owners of their new home. The

Tim O’brien uses symbolism to portray the religious aspect of the Rainy River. The Rainy River is a watercourse between Minnesota and Canada which tested O’Brien’s bravery to either enlist in or flee the Vietnam War. O’Brien states that the “The Rainy River… separated one life from another.” He also states that, “...Canadian waters, across... dotted line between two different worlds.” When he

How does the river function in the story? Is it a metaphor, a catalyst, or both? Is it a character?

Paul and Norman grew up in the same household, with the same values, but from their fishing styles, to their jobs and educations, to their social lives, their differences amount to those of night and day. While boys, young in age and mindsets, Paul and Norman learned to fish from Mr. Maclean. This factor had vast significance because, in this preacher's family, a clear line between fishing and religion had no presence. Mr. Maclean taught his sons the conventional four-count.

Edward Bloor made Paul seem like that quiet and more to himself kind of kid but he’s actually the one who sees what’s going on around him and everyone else. On page 64 it says, “I said to myself, There goes another one of your koi, Mr.Costello”. This texts shows that Paul is actually seeing the truth of the osprey taking their community fish but the homeowners are assuming that people are taking the fish and selling them. But instead of not telling anyone about the osprey and the koi fish he just sits back and doesn’t say anything. In the beginning Paul is invisible to everybody and nobody listens to him because he’s that “blind” kid that people ignore at first.

This fact is very important to understanding the story itself; as while the text is based firmly in the experiences of Norman Maclean, he made it clear even within the story that River is the result of Maclean looking back on his own life, and using his own experience as a literary critic to poeticize the real events that happened between him and his brother. As such, it should be taken as a distillation of the essence of its subject, not as an accurate retelling. At the end of the story, there is the following exchange between Norman and his father, the Reverend Maclean: “’You like to tell true stories, don’t you?’ he asked, and I answered “Yes, I like to tell stories that are true.’ Then he asked, ‘After you have finished your true stories sometime, why don’t you make up a story and the people to go with it? Only then will you understand what happened and why.’”

Paul, the youngest son, had always displayed his traits of independence and self-gratification through his acts of rebellion and selfishness. He would gamble, drink, and engage himself in all kinds of trouble. Instead of casting to the four-note rhythm that his father would always preach about, Paul seemed to just move into a world containing a natural rhythm of his own. In a sense, one could say that Paul marched to the beat of his own drum. To Paul, fly-fishing was a more than just a hobby; it was a symbol of his ability to escape from the real world into a blissful world of his own. Paul was always considered to be the expert fisher out of the two sons, since his discipline was clearly portrayed through fishing and fishing only. Like Norman, Paul would never arrive late to

Paul's father had abused him emotionally, and probably physically, throughout Paul's life. He did so much to Paul's flagging self-image that he had to boast to others to make himself feel big, when he felt tiny inside. When he finally achieved that "bigness" that he always wanted, the glamour of "the good life," his father found him out and took that away from him, or rather, made Paul give it up. This made Paul feel even smaller and made him feel that he would be better off dead. So Paul decided to make his life "better off" and

As Nick sets off on his journey, he comes to a river in which he observes in a way that relates to his own advancing expedition:

All lives revolve around decisions and instances from ones past. In A River Runs Through It (1992), director Robert Redford uses this idea and applies it to a true story of two brothers from Montana, Norman and Paul Maclean (Craig Sheffer and Brad Pitt, respectively). Based on the autobiographical novel by Norman Maclean himself, River uses Maclean’s metaphysical beliefs about life and nature to present its many themes. Using a longing score, various film devices, and a story line involving themes of youth, loss, and the pitfalls of pride, Robert Redford crafts a film about the beauty of the past.

Survival, both its temporary means and its ultimate permanence, is certainly a theme throughout this story, and the river is the most obvious metaphorical representation. Among the undulant hillsides, the river remains steady

The opening line “I’ve Known Rivers” (1) describes the narrator of the way a grandpa tells a grandchild a story. This gives the impressions he has lived a long life and spent quality time on the river and is about to share his story. One could argue that he has grown wise and intelligent because of his age and known what life had to offer. The narrator uses a simile to compare the age of the river to the age of the earth “ancient as the world” (2). This comparison establishes the river being as old as the planet. Next, there is a metaphor that tells the reader that the world and rivers are older than human beings “flow of blood in human veins” (3). The reader can make the correlation that we are the same as rivers. Human veins have the same look as rivers and blood flow through the veins just like water flowing down a river. The narrator compares the depth of his soul with the depth of water with “My soul has grown deep like the rivers” (4). We can refer to the depths of African Americans history and their overall existence on the earth. Rivers take years to erode the soil below and is always becoming deeper and deeper. The narrator is telling the reader that after all the racism he has seen has taken something out of him mentally and physically. His thoughts become mentally exhausted and just keeps flowing just like rivers. The idea of

The River as a Guide Guides take many forms. They may manifest as a teacher, sage or an experienced individual. But this need not be true- a guide may also be an inanimate object as well, like the stars, or a book. In either case, their purpose is the same: for them to help someone reach their goal. In Hermann Hesse’s novel Siddhartha, the river pushes the protagonist to find his path to enlightenment when he leaves established teachings, joins Vasudeva, and accepts his son’s abandonment.