What does it mean to step in the same river twice? After reading over Heraclitus’s statement piece by piece, I was able to discover a stronger connection between The Same River Twice and my summer reading book Growing Up. Both literally and figuratively do the stories share the same ideas in some way. It is through the way the characters act, and share ideas that builds the stronger connection. Heraclitus’s idea of “No man steps in the same river twice” goes deeper than what is literally stated. A recurring theme that I discovered in both texts was change. Change is inevitable, we are all subject to it and it’s the way we respond to it that makes us who we are. Everyone responds to change differently and both stories tell it through the protagonists …show more content…
The bonds they create with each other, and the memories that they share, were just like Russell, Aunt Pat, and Uncle Allen’s in Growing Up. The reader experiences immediate sudden change when the narrator’s best friend goes through a divorce with his wife causing them to move away from the river and never speaking to each other again. The author then describes the protagonist returning to the river for a short time because he realizes that it isn’t the same anymore. We had described in our class discussion that everything goes through change but then again life goes on. The scenario we had compared to this statement was that if the river had frozen over although it “changed”, the water beneath the ice keeps flowing. Now how does this all relate to Russell Baker’s memoir, Growing Up? The version of the “river” in Russell Baker’s book are the memories he shared throughout the story. The book begins with the description of the situation that Russell is in with his mother and how one day she starts telling the stories of her fondest memories as a child. Russell Baker described this as living in your memories, which leads him to share his life’s story. Although, coming from the “No man can step in the same river twice” scenario, the memories that Baker shares really can’t be
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
... enough contrasts between them that allow them to stand out as completely individual from one another. Each of these novels, then, is able to both expand upon the other, while being free in its own expression at the same time.
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."
Everyone’s lives are affected by the decisions they have made and past experiences they have had. In the novel A River Runs Through It, author Norman Maclean uses the theme of experiences to portray the difficulties a person can face throughout life. Although Norman and Paul are brothers and bond through fly fishing, they are two different people who have different life paths. Norman chose to get a stable job and live a domestic life, whereas Paul chose to become a bachelor and a lower class reporter. The main character is Norman himself, and he also experiences the difficulties his troubled brother Paul is faced with. Unlike his brother, Paul has chosen a different route in life, and he has an addiction problem. As a result of Paul’s alcoholism, his life is destroyed by financial issues, family disconnects and gambling.
In “Ask Me” by William Stafford, Stafford uses tone,idiom, and symbolism to explain why he thought his life was like a river. William Stafford uses the river to help him be able to answer any questions people might have about him. William Stafford uses tone to show how he thought his life was like a river. Stafford says, “Sometime when the river is ice, ask me about mistakes I have made. Ask me whether what I have done is my life” (Stafford 1-3).
Both stories are one of a kind and deserve to be read. They share both common and uncommon ideas, but in the end, both are nice.
Thus, both novels, full of tragedy and sorrow, began with the promise of new land, new beginnings and a better life, but all three were impossible to find within the pages of these novels. In the end, it was broken relationships, broken families, broken communities, but most importantly, broken dreams and broken hopes that were left on the final pages of both woeful, yet celebrated, stories.
...ce, although both writings are interesting in their own ways, the most interesting aspect of both writings together is that they both have a similar plot and theme. It is rare that two
Both stories show the characters inequality with their lives as women bound to a society that discriminates women. The two stories were composed in different time frames of the women’s rights movement; it reveals to the readers, that society was not quite there in the fair treatment towards the mothers, daughters, and wives of United States in either era. Inequality is the antagonist that both authors created for the characters. Those experiences might have helped that change in mankind to carve a path for true equality among men and women.
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.
In the beginning of both of the pieces of literature, the main character(s) have not had the experience that will shape their values yet. Rather, as time moves forward in the stories, the
The struggles both characters face demonstrate character development and contribute to the themes of the stories. Both short stories prove to be literally effective in that they disclose the main themes at the outset of each story. Although the themes may alter over the course of the stories, they are clearly defined in their respective introductions.
These two authors incorporated the theme in the story very similarly . As for the mood, both authors use the setting to incorporate darkness and evil into the overall feel of the story. Likewise, the theme of darkness, evil and fear, and the colour black are standout topics in both of these stories as a way to communicate the emotions in the characters and the narrator's. Finally, both authors discuss the topic of what it means to be a man, human, and the fine line among humans, animals and savages. Focusing on the behaviours and characteristics of the characters in each stories, this topic in particular plays one of the most significant roles in both narrations.
The basic ideas of the two novels are also similar. They have to do with rebellion against the so-called perfect new world and the sanctuary
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 ...