Of the stories on the syllabus the one that I most closely related to was “The Big Two-Hearted River” by Earnest Hemmingway. During my first reading of this story it was the setting and the action of the main character Nick Adams that I connected with. Reading the opening sentences, grand visions of my childhood danced through my head. The story took me back to happy times of summers spent alone with my grandfather in the mountains of West Virginia. Like Nick, the camping and fishing trips were a welcomed relief from the city life and school for me. Although we were in a different area of the country the wilderness seems to be the same.
Like Nick I remembered being dropped off near the edge of the wilderness to hike in and go camping near the river. “The river just showed through the trees” (Hemingway 480).
As with the main character the river always intrigued me as a child. It was many things such as the smell, the sound, and the being apart of nature that I liked. Most of all I really loved having the one on one time spent with my grandfather. Just as Hemmingway describes, we to would tromp through the mountains for what seemed like forever.
We make the trek all in order to find that perfect spot to set up camp. I often felt as Nick did “His muscles ached and the day was hot but… felt happy” (Hemingway 468).
When we came across that spot, a quote from the story says it best “He was there, in the good place” (Hemingway 471), and “The river was there” (Hemingway 467).
The Essay on Nick River Story Fishing
Nick and the River by Kirk Winter mute In Ernest Hemingway's short story "Big Two-Hearted River," there are very few obvious relationships. But the relationship ... most important to the story is that of the main character, Nick, and the river itself. Nick's feelings towards the river extend beyond the banks ...
A sense of happiness filled my body because I knew what was soon to come. We would set up the camp and get something to eat.
I could feel Nick’s pain of being “very hungry” (Hemingway 470); this was one of the down sides of the trip. My grandfather would not stop just to eat we would have to find are site then we would take a break for a quick snack before setting up camp. First we would survey the site and plan the best placement for our things. Hemingway wrote “He pegged the sides out taut and drove the pegs deep” (470), this passage brought flash backs of my grandfather telling me how important it was to get the lines tight and drive the tent pegs deep into the ground.
We would then gather up rocks and small timber to build the campfire. A passage said, “Over the fire he stuck a wire grill” (Hemingway 471).
This was not so easy with my grandfather. The stones would have to be placed in just the right fashion in order to support the grill. He was always very adamant about this and I would have more often than not done it more than once. As the day would be soon coming to a close we would sit and talk, I would learn and be happy.
When nightfall came so did the bait. “Nick wanted to catch grasshoppers for bait” (Hemingway 473), I would do nothing of the sort. My bait of choice was night crawlers and hellgimites. I would dig and overturn stones, as my grandfather would sit like Nick “Smoking, looking over the country” Hemingway 468).
My grandfather would peacefully just puff, puff, puff away on a S wishers Sweet cigar. He told me they were good to keep the bugs away.
To this day when I get a hint of one of those cigars it brings back a bit of nostalgia for me. I would watch him and not fully understand just what he was doing until I was much older. When the time came we would craw in and bed down and “out through the front of the tent he watched the glow of the fire” (Hemingway 473).
The fire seemed to put me into a trance of sorts.
I would hear the popping and cracking of the logs, and like a child on the night before Christmas have that anxious feeling for morning to come. As the sun came up my grandfather would be out coking breakfast, “The coffee boiled as he watched” (Hemingway 472) I knew real fun would soon begin. After breakfast we would venture down to the river throw in our lines. The whole time my grandfather would be telling me what to do and what not to do.
The Essay on Hemingway Ernest
An American novelist and short-story writer, born in Oak Park, Illinois, one of the great American writers of the 20th century. The son of a country doctor, Hemingway worked as a reporter for the Kansas City Star after graduating from high school in 1917. During World War I he served as an ambulance driver in France and in the Italian infantry and was wounded just before his 19th birthday. Later, ...
He would tell me stories all in anticipation for that first strike. When a fish would hit and was on the line, my heart would race with nervousness. Hemingway says it best with “Nick’s hand was shaky. He reeled in slowly” (476).
I would feel the exact same way until landing that fish. Once I got him ashore “Holding him near the tail”, the fish was always “Hard to hold” (Hemingway 479).
Like Nick I can remember being so frustrated attempting to hold the fluttering fish. We would kill the fish and “Cleaned them” (Hemingway 479).
At that point I would have such a sense of accomplishment and my grandfather seemed so proud. I loved that feeling.
Our trip would sadly come to an end and we would pack up and head for home. This story touched me deep in may heart. It was not so much the deep meaning of the story but the setting. Hemingway brought back such fond memories of days gone by, and times spent with a man I deeply love and miss. The way in which Hemingway wrote the story I feel allows people like myself to get involved, to become the character.
Even though Nick was in Michigan on a different river in a different time we were still able to have a very similar experience. That is why I connected with this story.
