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. The novella captures the human soul and what it means to grow up and be man through his eulogy to the Blackfoot river, 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 …show more content…
river and symbolism of the river itself whereas the movie adaptation explores Norman’s emotional development via his relationships with other people with the river as a secondary aspect. Norman Maclean closes his novella with a final powerful statement, “Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. In this statement “one” is the intangible conglomerate of Maclean's life experiences, thoughts, and memories and “it” is his life itself. Maclean uses the river to symbolize the memories and experiences of his life thus, he feels in the end, all his experiences and memories merge into one entity, with his life running through them and untangling the multitudes of thoughts into a path of life. He suggest that this his life is built upon those before him because the river [life] flows over generations of rock which are built upon the words and lives of those who came before him. Finally, the things that haunt him are the past of all those he’s ever known. This demonstrates Norman’s deep connection to the river, and how the way he understands his life is through the river, without it he cannot find the words to explain how he has grown and learned to accept his life. For Maclean, the river was always highly personal he even refers to it as “my family's river” multiple times demonstrating the profound effect it had on his upbringing. The deepest familial moments such as Norman offering Paul help, discussing life plans, or Norman finding common ground with his father, all occur while fishing in the Blackfoot or in transit to it. Maclean also uses the rivers changing topography to reveal his emotions once he returns to Montana from his time at Dartmouth which was a much more metropolitan refined place. He writes, “the family river changed find that quote”, and appears melancholy about it, but later comes to accept that things have changed and time moves forward. Once again equating the river as his personal thing thus revealing Norman’s own emotions about himself. He sees that the river and town has grown, with development along the river altering its serenity but then he begins to accept the change (find quote) as part of the cycle of growth and acceptance. Because he uses the river to represent himself, his long thoughts about the industry developing symbolize norman’s internal conflict returning to a very different Missoula than the one he left. The moment he learns to accept that things change, like the town becoming larger and more urban, and cannot be the same forever marks the peak of character growth. Throughout the entire novella, these emotional changes are highlighted through metaphors involving the river and fishing, nearly exclusively focusing on Norman’s interaction with the natural world. In the film adaptation of A River Runs Through It the movie puts much more emphasis on the emotional bonds Normans creates with the other people he meets in his life in order to show his emotional growth and create characters and stories an audience can connect with. In the opening scenes, Norman and his brother are portrayed very lovingly and as inseparable friends who do anything and everything together. The movie build their brotherly connection and play up Paul’s lovable spunky attitude in order to give the audience something they can relate to, sibling love. This makes the emotional build up between the two more intense and visible throughout the film and creates a stronger emotional reaction when the two drift apart, then when Paul dies. Other characters in the movie are also given a large role to portray Norman’s emotional growth through his relationships with them. His father, mother, and Jesse are two characters whose roles were enlarged to better suit film media. His closer relationship with his parents proves to emphasize the difference between him and Paul, by showing that both had a loving and good upbringing, it emphasizes that Paul is fundamentally different from Norman and it was not their parents actions that led to Paul’s troubles and. Jesse is embellished and plays a large role in the movie as a way to show Norman’s growing confidence once returning from college, and how no longer fits in with Montana folk. His first interactions with her show how urbanized he is and out of touch with his roots all in a comedic way fit for screen. Norman and Jesse’s romance also show Norman’s ability to bond with those different from him and adapt to new situations, again showing the antithesis between Paul. The movie ends and the audience is able to understand the coming of age story because of the relationships and characters created in it. The film does keep a few key aspects of the novella including, the importance of the Blackfoot river as a place of family bonding, Norman’s changed demeanor once returning from college, and the scenes between Norman and his father about Paul’s death are near identical to the book. The river is where many important bonding moments occurred in the novella, such as Paul and Norman connecting as brothers or Norman and his father sharing a bible verse on the bank, and the film keeping this theme emphasizes the importance of the river. When Norman returns from Dartmouth he is a much different person PUT QUOTE than when he left, he is older, wiser, and has experienced a more metropolitan world. The character growth Norman goes through keeps him from finding a permanent home and connection with Missoula, especially since the town has also greatly changed. In keeping this in the film, it again dictates how vital this change is to the plot and the critical role his experience plays in his leaving of Montana. Finally, maintaining the same dialogue about Paul’s death in the film as in the novella stresses the impact of the event on Norman and his father. Both deal with the tragedy in their own ways, but their pattern of his father continuing to ask the same questions and Norman’s same answer, then finally breaking the chain with “he was beautiful or something find it”, speaks to the greater theme of accepting the things that happen in life and continuing on without letting the memory hold you back. The largest difference between the novella and the film adaptation is the channel into which Norman’s coming of age story takes, either the focused through the natural world or through interpersonal relationships.
Through extensive symbolism and metaphors to the Blackfoot river, Norman Maclean reveals his inner thoughts and emotions as he progresses from adolescence to adulthood. His inability to explain himself without the river shows how connected he is to it, and would not have become the person he did without the river. By contrast, the movie decides to actualize Norman’s transformation through dialogue and actions with other characters in the story. This also works well to show his growth into an adult, fitting a visual platform better, but makes the river a secondary actor. Characters who previously played little or no impactful role in the novella now had major roles and personalities in order to show Norman’s. For example, Jesse was much more outspoken, fiery, and overall had a much larger role in the film as a juxtaposition to Norman’s quiet and introspective demeanor. The film also gave his father a larger more loving role to establish family bonds that an audience could grow attached to, so that when Paul dies there is more cinematic shock and drama. In the novella, the shock and drama come from Norman’s thoughts when he’s with the river. For example, the moment Norman finds his father reading the bible on the bank is where he feels he really understands his …show more content…
father. Then both watching Paul fish as a true artist, he realizes what his family is and who they are writing, “We can love completely what we cannot completely understand.” Most importantly, the river is where Norman realizes that memories and experience shape who he is, but he also must accept what happens in life and continue on writing A River Runs Through It is a testament to the power of nature to shape man.
Norman Maclean provides a deeply personal account of growing up in the transitional time of Missoula Montana and his beliefs about what life means. The novella takes a deep focus on the geological aspects of the Blackfoot river as well as the emotional impact it had on him, using the river to symbolize his life and memories. Maclean also uses the river as a tool to understand himself writing, “I became the river by knowing how it was made, Know it so well it’s inside him.” Knowing where you came from and what you experienced is how you form your identity, by saying he knows how the river was made he knows how he was made and who he is, because his life and memories are the river. The film adaptation instead embellished the characters in the story and focused on Norman’s interactions with them in order to reveal his thoughts on growing up. Both are quality productions, but provide different context of the natural world. The novella is a story of nature and a man whereas the film is a story of a man and his relationships with nature as a secondary character. Each providing interesting thoughts and ideas about the central theme of what it means to grow
up.
In Joseph Boydens short story “Abitibi Canyon”, the narrator is the mother of Remi, a child with a mental disability. They live in a reserve where the people argue about the construction of a dam in their river. She is against it because it will ruin the place where she likes to camp with her Shirley, Mary and Suzanne. The way she sees the dam is an important image. She pictures it as a “concrete monster lying in our river and controlling it like some greedy giant” (364). The dam will ruin a place that has a lot of personal significance to her.
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
Into the Wild by John Krakauer is a rare book in which its author freely admits his bias within the first few pages. “I won't claim to be an impartial biographer,” states Krakauer in the author’s note, and indeed he is not. Although it is not revealed in the author's note whether Krakauer's bias will be positive or negative, it can be easily inferred. Krakauer's explanation of his obsession with McCandless's story makes it evident that Into the Wild was written to persuade the reader to view him as the author does; as remarkably intelligent, driven, and spirited. This differs greatly from the opinion many people hold that McCandless was a simply a foolhardy kid in way over his head. Some even go as far as saying that his recklessness was due to an apparent death-wish. Krakauer uses a combination of ethos, logos and pathos throughout his rendition of McCandless’s story to dispute these negative outlooks while also giving readers new to this enigmatic adventure a proper introduction.
“The Boat”, narrated by a Mid-western university professor, Alistar MacLeod, is a short story concerning a family and their different perspectives on freedom vs. tradition. The mother pushes the son to embrace more of a traditional lifestyle by taking over the fathers fishing business, while on the other hand the father pushes the son to live more autonomously in an unconstrained manner. “The Boat” focuses on the father and how his personality influences the son’s choice on how to live and how to make decisions that will ultimately affect his life. In Alistair MacLeod’s, “The Boat”, MacLeod suggest that although dreams and desires give people purpose, the nobility of accepting a life of discontentment out weighs the selfishness of following ones own true desires. In the story, the father is obligated to provide for his family as well as to continue the fishing tradition that was inherited from his own father. The mother emphasizes the boat and it’s significance when she consistently asked the father “ How did things go in the boat today” since tradition was paramount to the mother. H...
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."
The viewpoint of the world that the narrator has, completely alters as certain events take place throughout the story. His outlook on nature transforms into a wholly different standpoint as the story progresses. As his tale begins, the narrator sees himself as a tough guy or “bad character”. He believes he is invincible. There is nobody as cool as he is or as dangerous as him and his friends are. With his followers, the narrator goes to Greasy Lake, he takes in the nature that surrounds him. He thinks of himself to be a kid who knows everything. To him, the lake represents a night of misbehavior and partying. The unhealthy, treacherous atmosphere of Greasy Lake is alluring, fun, and exciting to someone as threatening as he is. “We went up to the lake because everyone went there, because we wanted to snuff the rich sent of possibility on the breeze, watch a girl take off her clothes and plunge into the festering murk, drink beer, smoke pot, howl at the stars, savor the incongruous full-throated roar of rock and roll against the primeval susurrus of frogs and crickets. This was nature.” This quote gives a clear idea of what the narrators perception of what not only nature is, but of what the world is. He lives to have fun. He is fearless and lives for the moment. All that life is to him is sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
Throughout A River Runs Through It, Norman Maclean emphasizes the relationship between nature, art, and faith. The concise, simple sentence with which he chooses to open his story captures the essence of all one hundred pages: in his family, 'there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing' (1). Reverend Maclean believes that both fly fishing and spiritual belief are 'exact arts,' if such a term can exist without paradox. The Reverend holds the firm conviction that 'all good things ' trout as well as eternal salvation ' come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy' (4). This belief system obviously espouses a view of the world as meticulous and well-ordered: nature is an intricate example of perfection, painstakingly created by God over half a billion years; art, including the art of fly fishing, is best taught with scrupulous attention to form and detail; faith is best deepened through study of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, regular church attendance, and carefully written and revised sermons.
In “Ask Me” by William Stafford, Stafford uses tone,idiom, and symbolism to explain why thought his life was like a river. William Stafford uses the river to help him be able to answer any questions people might have for him.
The relationship you have with others often has a direct effect on the basis of your very own personal identity. In the essay "On The Rainy River," the author Tim O'Brien tells about his experiences and how his relationship with a single person had effected his life so dramatically. It is hard for anyone to rely fully on their own personal experiences when there are so many other people out there with different experiences of their own. Sometimes it take the experiences and knowledge of others to help you learn and build from them to help form your own personal identity. In the essay, O'Brien speaks about his experiences with a man by the name of Elroy Berdahl, the owner of the fishing lodge that O'Brien stays at while on how journey to find himself. The experiences O'Brien has while there helps him to open his mind and realize what his true personal identity was. It gives you a sense than our own personal identities are built on the relationships we have with others. There are many influence out there such as our family and friends. Sometimes even groups of people such as others of our nationality and religion have a space in building our personal identities.
Chris McCandless, the main character of “Into the wild” was angered by his father’s infidelity and bigamy. As a result, Chris McCandless wanted to separate himself from his family and he begins a spiritual adventure to search for his identity. Chris McCandless isolates himself physically and emotionally to find freedom and peace by adventuring into the wild. Therefore, McCandless escapes from Emory University and immediately flees his dull and predictable life, heading west without a word to his family. Although, McCandless journey ends in a tragic ending, he fulfilled his ambition by pursuing his ambition and inner peace. In conclusion, McCandless journey was both a search for inner peace and transition to maturity.
When reflecting and writing on Eiseley’s essay and the “magical element”, I balk. I think to myself, “What magic?”, and then put pen to page. I dubiously choose a kiddie pool to draw inspiration from, and unexpectedly, inspiration flows into me. As I sit here in this little 10x30 foot backyard, the sky is filled with the flowing gaseous form of water, dark patches of moist earth speckle the yard, the plants soak up their scattered watering, and the leaves of bushes and trees imbue the space with a sense of dampness from their foliage. As my senses tune into the moisture that surrounds me, I fill Braedon’s artificial pond with water. I stare at the shimmering surface, contemplating Eiseley’s narrative, and the little bit of life’s wellspring caught in Brae’s pool. I see why Eiseley thought the most abundant compound on the earth’s surface is mystical.
In the novel, A Hero’s Journey, Joseph Campbell, an American mythologist, writer, and lecturer, states that “every decision made by a young person is life decisive. What seems to be a small problem is really a large one. So everything that is done early in life is functionally related to a life trajectory” (Campbell). In mythic criticism, the critic sees mythic archetypes and imagery connecting and contrasting it with other similar works. Certain patterns emerge, such as a traditional hero on a journey towards self actualization. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer portrays this hero’s journey. The protagonist of the novel, Chris McCandless, hitchhikes to Alaska and walks alone into the wilderness, north of Mt. McKinley. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. He thought that the reality of the modern world was corrupt and uncompassionate, so he went on this journey in order to find a life of solitude and innocence that could only be expressed through his encounters with the wild. During this ambitious journey to find the true meaning of life, Chris McCandless exhibits a pattern like the type explained above. In Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, Chris McCandless follows this mythic pattern, seeking to be the traditional hero who spurns civilization, yet he discovers that modern heroes cannot escape their reality.
“Into The Wild” by John Krakauer is a non-fiction biographical novel which is based on the life of a young man, Christopher McCandless. Many readers view Christopher’s journey as an escape from his family and his old life. The setting of a book often has a significant impact on the story itself. The various settings in the book contribute to the main characters’ actions and to the theme as a whole. This can be proven by examining the impact the setting has on the theme of young manhood, the theme of survival and the theme of independent happiness.
In Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer explores the human fascination with the purpose of life and nature. Krakauer documents the life and death of Chris McCandless, a young man that embarked on an Odyssey in the Alaskan wilderness. Like many people, McCandless believed that he could give his life meaning by pursuing a relationship with nature. He also believed that rejecting human relationships, abandoning his materialistic ways, and purchasing a book about wildlife would strengthen his relationship with nature. However, after spending several months enduring the extreme conditions of the Alaskan wilderness, McCandless’ beliefs begin to work against him. He then accepts that he needs humans, cannot escape materialism, and can never fully understand how nature functions. Most importantly, he realizes that human relationships are more valuable than infinite solitude. McCandless’ gradual change of heart demonstrates that exploring the wilderness is a transformative experience. Krakauer uses the life and death of Chris McCandless to convey that humans need to explore nature in order to discover the meaning of life.
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 ...