22 pages • 44 minutes read
W.D. WetherellThe Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant
Fiction | Short Story | YA | Published in 1983A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Canoe
An aluminum canoe is central to the narrator’s summer vacation. In it, he fishes and travels up and downstream from his family’s resort cottage. The canoe is also his main form of transport. Taking Sheila to the dance by canoe, he uses the boat to show himself off for her: He spruces up the interior to make it a romantic spot and tries to demonstrate his skill with the oars. At the same time, the canoe comes to symbolize his failed attempt to hold onto either of his two summer passions—Sheila, who has no interest in him and instead desires Eric the college athlete, and the enormous bigmouth bass, which the narrator frees in a misguided attempt to win Sheila’s favor.
Dock and Diving Board
Sheila suns herself on a diving board attached to a large, floating pier, while the narrator watches her longingly from a nearby dock. While the narrator’s true passion lies in the river, his misguided obsession remains on the board, removed from the water, looking down, literally and figuratively, on the fishing he holds dear, and refusing to dive into his world. The dock thus represents a life of swimming and fishing, while the diving board symbolizes the pedestal on which he has placed Sheila, without any knowledge of her as a person.
Fishing Gear
The narrator extols “my Mitchell reel on my Pflueger spinning rod” (Paragraph 13)—the gear is one of his proudest possessions, and he takes it with him whenever he’s in the canoe. He loves to fish, and his abilities in that sport are a major source of pride. The author humorously peppers references to the tackle with double-entendres like, “She hadn’t seen my equipment yet,” “slide the rod into some branches,” and “push the rod back between my legs” (Paragraph 34). As the narrator hides his fishing gear from Sheila, he also symbolically acts out his nervousness about having sexual feelings for an older girl.
River
The river that meanders through the resort is the site of the narrator’s greatest loves—swimming, diving, and especially fishing. In the story, the river is where he tests himself against the demands of the natural world and the yearnings of his young heart. The narrator describes the river as “a corridor of hidden life that ran between banks like a tunnel” (Paragraph 16) and flows beneath a star-splashed nighttime sky, a watercourse that inspires countless hours of gazing and reflection. Its constant flow acts as a backdrop of quietly intense energy that powers the narrator’s summertime projects, its steady rhythm a reminder that there are bigger and deeper things in life than infatuations.
