The Couple Of Dark Water In Things Fall Apart By Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway uses details of natural and manufactured settings to foreshadow the couple's breakup and to emphasize their incompatibility. He uses "twelve feet of dark water" to foreshadow their breakup. Water symbolizes the complexity of life which is why it foreshadows the event later on in the story. Marjorie and Nick have different tones when they were talking about Horton's Bay. Marjorie said "There's our old ruin, Nick." The key word that she used is "our" meaning she thought of it as something they had shared as a memory together. Nick said "There it is" very plainly. The tones that they use are very different. Later on Marjorie calls it a "castle," which also shows that it means something completely different to her than it does to Nick.

She sees something that's not really there while Nick sees the reality of what's there. She came into the relationship thinking that she was going to be the Princess in her “castle” and he was going to be the prince that marries her.

When Nick and Marjorie were fishing the minnows were jumping wildly, "They sprinkled the surface like a handful of shot throw into the water." The minnows act as the shiny bullets that would be used to kill. It foreshadows that Nick was not ready to “die” or get married at his young age. When Marjorie caught a perch in the bucket, she cut its head off and skinned it. When Nick looked at the fish after she cut its head off and skinned it, it foreshadowed that he would be the fish and was not ready for the “end of his life.” Nick realized that he was not ready to commit to someone else so early in his life.