I am reading “The Bass, the River, and Shelia Mant” by W.D. Wetherell, The story is about a young boy trying to choose between a beautiful girl and his passion of fishing. In this journal, I will be questioning and evaluating.
G Narrator picks bass or Shelia
Y Bass
R All his attention consumed by it(name brand fishing equipment)
R Very knowledgeable about fishing(could tell by splash it was bass)
R always had the love and experience for bass (biggest bass he’s ever seen)
Y Shelia
R Watches her (cause she’s pretty)
R considers giving up passion(hides fish)
R Hard catch( tries to impress her)
G I think he will pick the Bass (all one paragraph)
As I am reading the story, I question whether the Narrator will pick Shelia Mant or
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the Bass.
I surmise that he will choose the Bass, but there are many reasons as to why he would pick Shelia as well. The Narrator is extremely intrigued by fishing, and this is one reason why I believe he will choose the Bass. He has purchased name brand fishing equipment, and just loves to talk about Large Mouth Bass and fishing in general. He also states in the text, “I never went anywhere that summer without a fishing rod.” This statement clearly shows his devotion and love of the sport. I consider another reason is that he is quite knowledgeable about Bass. In the story, he is able to tell by just a “splash” that a Large Mouth Bass is swimming in the river. He also knows what types of food the fish typically eat and how to catch them. The last point I am going to make is the fact that the Narrator has always had the experience of fishing, and the love for the sport. The Narrator shares how he fishes all summer long and how the Bass, currently on his line, was the most extraordinary fish that he has seen to date. Even though he may lose Shelia if he reels in the fish, that may just be a risk that the narrator is willing to take. There are also many reasons as to why the Narrator may pick Shelia over the Bass. The boy has been
observing Shelia all summer long, and after he finally sparked enough courage to ask her out on a date, he will not give up on her so easily. He has also been admiring her, and growing fonder of her day by day and now he is struggling to decide between his two loves. I would also like to state that he has worked very hard to try and impress Shelia. He did his best to swim all the way across the lake, and dive into it beautifully. These actions were all in an attempt to make her fall for him; due to her being a “hard catch.” Then, after she agreed to go on a date with him, his efforts may have payed off. In the end, I still think that the Narrator will choose the Bass. No one can just throw away their passion for a girl they hardly know, even if it may seem like she is his true love. G Characterize Narrator Y Determined R Shelia has shown little interest (keeps trying) R Trying to impress her with various stunts R Trying to hide the bass to save his relationship Y Observant R has been watching Shelia(knows her moods) R observant when on the water (the splash) R Didn’t want Shelia to see him( watching her) G The narrator is Determined and Observant In this paragraph, I chose to characterize the Narrator of the story. I chose two different adjectives to describe him. I think for a majority of the time, the Narrator seems very determined. Shelia is showing very little interest in the boy as it is, but he keeps on trying to be noticed by her. In my opinion, this shows that he has determination, and is willing to do absolutely anything to be with her. In the novel he also states “but I would give anything to be invited to one of their parties,” this statement further proves my point. We can also learn from the text that the Narrator is trying very hard to seem impressive to Shelia. For instance, the narrator says, “to win her attention I would do endless laps between my house and the Vermont shore, hoping she would notice the beauty of my flutter kick, the power of my crawl.” This clearly shows that the narrator is trying to impress Shelia, and in more ways than one. He also worked very hard to polish the familys canoe before their big date. The boy thought that Shelia would be very impressed by this, and she may have been, but the text did not incline that she even noticed his effort. Another reason that shows the Narrator is determined is all the trouble he went through to make sure that Shelia did not see him as he was fishing. He maneuvered the canoe in various ways, and was plotting on how he would keep Shelia distracted long enough so she wouldn’t notice. He also made up fibs to put her doubts away. He was very determined to keep their relationship afloat. Another word I used to describe the Narrator is observant. One way the narrator has showed that he is quick to notice details is when he is watching Shelia. He states in the text, “I had learned all of her moods…” and then goes on to share the different ways Shelia lays on the diving boards, and what that meant. His traits also show through when he describes the girl, trying to explain all of her beauty. It would take a very intuitive and observant person to notice these pintsized details, and that is why I described him in this way. I think the Narrator is also observant when it comes to his favorite sport, fishing. He could tell by just a splash in the water that there was a Large Mouth Bass hunting for food. The last point I would like to share is how he was observing Shelia on the ride to the concert. On the ride he was trying to watch her, and make sure she wouldn’t notice that he was fishing. The Narrator knew that Shelia disliked fishing, so he tried to divert her attention. In doing this he was observing her every second to make sure that she wouldn’t take notice to his “dumb” sport. In conclusion, I thing that the Narrator is determined and Observant; based on evidence from the text, and my own opinions. I think I deserve an 8 out of 10 because I cited exact phrases from the story, and made sure I had some textual evidence to back myself up when I stated a new opinion. I also think that I had voice in my writing, and that I used careful word choice when putting this journal together.
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Blood on the River by Elisa Carbone is a historical novel that focuses on the uphill battle to build the first permanent English colony known as Jamestown. In order to survive the colonists had to find a way to trade with the Indians for recourses and battle against the common enemy, called death. Having a healthy, functioning society was by far the hardest thing to maintain.
In "The Bass, the River, and Shelia Mant", the speaker fell in love with a beautiful girl named Shelia Mant, which was the only thing that he loved more than fishing. He watched her everyday sunbathing on the dock. He watched her so much that he learned what mood she was in by the position she was laying. When the summer was almost over he got up enough nerve to ask her out. To his surprise she said yes. They went to see a band, however, since he was only fourteen they took a canoe. While rowing the canoe he had his fishing pole on the back, because he never left the house without it. Little did he know that Shelia thought fishing was dumb. So, during the entire canoe ride he is trying to hide the fishing pole, which is hanging o...
Is sacrificing passion for a special someone the best thing in the long run? In the story “The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant” written by W.D. Wetherell the young and naive narrator chooses a girl over his life long love of fishing. Wetherell uses internal conflicts with the narrator to increase the conflict and suspense. Due to Sheila Mant’s shallow personality and impulsive opinion the narrator lets the biggest fish he has ever caught go because he is afraid of what she will think of him. The narrator’s feelings for Sheila Mant go away and it makes him regret his decision of letting the fish go. In the story “The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant the narrator made a long term decision on temporary feelings and emotions.
a man, cause he has to choose a wife for his mother, but for Penelope, she
The story describes the protagonist who is coming of age as torn between the two worlds which he loves equally, represented by his mother and his father. He is now mature and is reflecting on his life and the difficulty of his childhood as a fisherman. Despite becoming a university professor and achieving his father’s dream, he feels lonely and regretful since, “No one waits at the base of the stairs and no boat rides restlessly in the waters of the pier” (MacLeod 261). Like his father, the narrator thinks about what his life could have been like if he had chosen another path. Now, with the wisdom and experience that comes from aging and the passing of time, he is trying to make sense of his own life and accept that he could not please everyone. The turmoil in his mind makes the narrator say, “I wished that the two things I loved so dearly did not exclude each other in a manner that was so blunt and too clear” (MacLeod 273). Once a decision is made, it is sometimes better to leave the past and focus on the present and future. The memories of the narrator’s family, the boat and the rural community in which he spent the beginning of his life made the narrator the person who he is today, but it is just a part of him, and should not consume his present.
Since three-forth of the world is composed of bodies of water, it’s natural that a great number of people rely on fishing for their livelyhood or just for their recreation needs. There are numerous of fish species swimming under the lakes, seas, ponds, and rivers. Most anglers consider fishing as the delight in their purpose-driven life, a sport, as they say.
Love, an emotion that grips over people in intense ways, and holds them for an everlasting time. In the short story called “The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant” written by W.D. Wetherell shows how love, or having a passion for someone, or something can drive a person into doing things in different ways. The story deals with the narrator trying to impress and go out with a girl named Sheila Mant, but at the same, the narrator loves fishing very much, so these two different passions would go in conflict with each other in the story. The theme of the story is not letting your love of something be overshadowed by anything else. The story portrays the theme through literary devices such as; the characterization of the narrator, the ironies involved
He teaches the kid what to do in order to successfully reel in a large, beautiful fish. Ironically, the narrator is the one who learns from the kid in the end. At the beginning of the story, everything is described negatively, from the description of the kid as a “lumpy little guy with baggy shorts” to his “stupid-looking ’50s-style wrap-around sunglasses” and “beat-up rod”(152). Through his encounter with the boy, the narrator is able to see life in a different way, most notable from how he describes the caught tarpon as heavy, silvery white, and how it also has beautiful red fins (154). Through the course of the story, the narrator’s pessimistic attitude changes to an optimistic one, and this change reveals how inspiring this exchange between two strangers is. This story as a whole reveals that learning also revolves around interactions between other people, not only between people and their natural surroundings and
Since its first appearance in the 1886 collection A White Heron and Other Stories, the short story A White Heron has become the most favorite and often anthologized of Sarah Orne Jewett. Like most of this regionalist writer's works, A White Heron was inspired by the people and landscapes in rural New England, where, as a little girl, she often accompanied her doctor father on his visiting patients. The story is about a nine-year-old girl who falls in love with a bird hunter but does not tell him the white heron's place because her love of nature is much greater. In this story, the author presents a conflict between femininity and masculinity by juxtaposing Sylvia, who has a peaceful life in country, to a hunter from town, which implies her discontent with the modernization?s threat to the nature.
Themes and Variations of the Trout Quintet A quintet is a work for five instruments, in this case piano, violin, viola, cello and double bass (piano quintet). The fourth movement of this quintet is a theme and variations on Schubert's song 'Die Forelle' (The Trout). Schubert (1797-1828) was a prolific song / lied composer. Many of his songs took their inspiration from the beauty of nature; 'The Trout' being a good example. Much of his 'lieder' display pictorial word painting effects in either the vocal or piano writing - note the piano 'ripples' of the brook in the accompaniment of 'Die Forelle'.
I read the short story “The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant” by W.D. Wetherell. “There was a summer in my life when the only creature that seemed lovelier to me than a largemouth bass was Sheila Mant.(Wetherell1)” In this story a 14 year old boy is stuck between his love of fishing and the girl of his dreams. However, by accidentally leaving his fishing rod in his polished canoe, he picks up the beautiful Sheila Mant after asking her to go to a dance with him. “I think fishing’s dumb,” she said making a face. “I mean, it’s boring and all. Definitely dumb.(Wetherall3)” Not wanting to be “dumb” in front Sheila, the boy has to decide if he would rather catch the biggest bass of his lifetime, or date the girl he is obsessed over. He has to decide
While reading the story I’m thinking, will he pick the bass or Sheila? Some of the reasons I think he will pick the bass because, fishing bass is his passion, he’s been doing it his whole life. When he was cleaning up the boat, he automatically put the fishing rod in the canoe when he was cleaning it up. The next reason I think he will pick the fish is, he’s on a date and he hasn’t even said a word to her. It’s either been silence or he’s been trying to focus on reeling in this big bass that he has hooked. Lastly, he hasn’t even thought of her this whole time unless she has spoken.
The first element to analyze when looking at “The Fish” is figurative language. The reader is drawn to this element because of its heavy emphasis throughout the poem. Elizabeth Bishop profusely uses similes with the intention of heightening the sensation of fishing. She writes:
If Chantal tells the village, she may be making a choice that leads to the death of another villager. If she does not, the stranger will tell them she withheld the opportunity which will put her at risk of being the chosen victim. In her moment of fear, she says, “For that moment, all of our fears suddenly surface: the fear of setting off along a road heading who knows where, the fear of a life full or new challenges, the fear of losing forever everything” (Coelho). On the other hand, Sophie is faced with two fatal choices, one being which child is most likely to live and which will surely die. Another choice she must make after a long life of agony after losing her family is the fatal choice to take her own life as she constantly has flashbacks of the guard demanding, “Make a choice, Or I’ll send both of them over there” (Pakula