Gus in James Duncans The River Why Essay -- James Duncan River Why Es

Gus in James Duncan's The River Why James Duncan’s book entitled, The River Why, focuses around the main character, Gus, and how he changes throughout the book. In this book Gus is discovering what life really is and that the whole world does not revolve around fishing. After moving out of his erratic house he spends all of his time fishing at his remote cabin, but this leaves him unhappy and a little insane. He embarks on a search for him self and for his own beliefs. Duncan changes Gus throughout the book, making Gus realize that there are more important things to life than fishing, and these things can lead to a happy fulfilled life, which in turn will help Gus enjoy life and fishing more. Duncan introduces a character, Eddy, who significantly changes Gus’s views on what he needs in his life and she gives Gus a sense of motivation or inspiration. Eddy changes Gus by their first encounter with each other, when Eddy instills in Gus a need to fulfill his life and when they meet up again, completing his ne ed. Fishing is Gus’s first passion but he loses it after he puts all of himself into it, and when Eddy comes into his picture Gus feels a need to have more in his life, like love. Through finding love he re-finds his passion for fishing and learns more about himself. When Eddy and Gus finally get together, he sees this â€Å"equilibrium† between his old passion, fishing, and his new one, Eddy. Duncan’s use of Eddy gives Gus a new found sense of purpose and to have a more fulfilled life is a critical step in Gus’s development as a character. This is why Eddy is the most important character to this book, because she gives Gus inspiration to find himself. On their first encounter with one another Gus is compelled by her differences in dress, techniques and gear. After she leaves, Gus feels a â€Å"need† to fulfill his empty life. Finally when she shows back up in his life, Gus then has everything he could ever ask for: a beautiful woman who loves to fish, just like him. He explains how he first sees Eddy on page 151 as: â€Å"A barefoot girl. A full-grown one. One who wore the top tenth or so of what had long ago been a pair of blue jeans. One who wore a short, skin-tight, sleeveless sky-colored t-shirt through †¦which revealed the shape of the†¦Ã¢â‚¬  After sneaking his way up to the tree where she sat â€Å"motionless†, not noticing Gus, his attention is diverted, if not comp... ...fter hearing stories of Gus the great fisherman. Eddy sees more in Gus than she thought she would, so she decides to come back the next day to talk. The next day she gives Gus a plan that he must follow of catching a fish with her techniques. He finds his equilibrium on page 274 â€Å"Equilibrium derived from a kind of inner balance: it transmitted itself from the soul to the mind, and from the mind to the body, and when a man possessed of it put his hand to an art or craft he was capable of unheard of feats.† Gus’s equilibrium was his love for Eddy and he states on the same page â€Å"Why shouldn’t love be my Equilibrium? Why shouldn’t love be the forceless force running through the wound and into the fish? Couldn’t love create that sacred balance? Wouldn’t love dissolve all stress?†Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Eddy also changes as person because she stays longer and longer with Gus, doing all sorts of things together, eventually marrying Gus. They both find their equilibrium in each other. Gus re-finds his fishing passion through Eddy, but looks on everything in a whole different way. Eddy gave Gus motivation to know himself and he fulfills the emptiness. He got the two loves of his life: fishing and Eddy.

Discuss Naturalism and the Importance of the Dog to Understand the Theme in “To Build a Fire”

Chad Mead April 5, 2013 ENGL-227 World Fiction Discuss Naturalism and the Importance of the Dog to Understand the Theme. The author of this short story is none other than Jack London. One of the most influential novelists of his age, Jack London was the author who wrote â€Å"Call of the Wild† and â€Å"White Fang†. Both books were excellent and even share some similarities with the story, â€Å"To Build a Fire†, which is the story we are going to discuss. â€Å"To Build a Fire† is a story of a man fighting the harsh weather of the Yukon with only his dog, where he is ultimately defeated by it. Also read The Story of an Eyewitness Essay AnalysisThis story has a strong Naturalistic presence in it, and shows it primarily through the means of the man’s dog. Through this style of writing, we begin to understand that this story is about survival in the wilderness using one’s instinct rather than sheer will. Naturalism is a type of writing style that is direct, no sugarcoated words, and shows us the harsh realities of daily life. Jack London used naturalism, the most realistic literary movement, to show how violent and uncaring nature really is, and how no matter what you do- nature will always be there. This is where the dog comes in as naturalism’s main contributor.The first time the dog is introduced in this story, it was described as submissive yet questionable, in regards to the man’s unwonted actions towards not building a fire or not finding shelter from the cold. The reason the author gives us as to why the dog is questionable is because  "the brute had its instinct. † (Jack London 655). Just from that one line the author gave, it showed that the dog and the man would have two contrasting roles to play in his story. The dog embodies pure instinct, who only wants to survive the harsh, cold weather by lying next to a fire or in a shelter.The man, adversely, shows us willpower because he does not wish to build a fire or find a shelter, but only seeks to push through the cold weather to get to his camp and â€Å"The Boys†. This shows us the beginning of the differentiation between instinct and will, and it only gets stronger from then on. The second appearance of the dog is when the man stops for the first time to build a fire and eat his lunch. When the man finished eating and smoking his pipe, he started along the trail back to his camp again, with the dog, leaving the fire behind. As soon as this happens the dog is mentioned in a long dialogue about how it earns to return towards the fire, and how the man did not know what real cold was. The line that really identifies with naturalism was that, â€Å"The dog knew cold; all its ancestry knew, and it had inherited the knowledge† (658). Through the dog’s environment and instinct, it knew what to do to survive a climate that it had known its entire life, and then some. The man, however, was described as the polar opposite of the dog, as â€Å"the man who did not know cold and possibly all the generations of his ancestry had been ignorant of cold† (658). This distinction between the two is now very evident, which brings up the turning point in the story.The last appearance of the dog with the man is when the man is at the point of freezing to death, because he had dropped into water and did not succeed in building a fire. The man starts up a plan to kill the dog and use its entrails to warm himself up. This is the part of the story where it truly becomes survival of the fittest, because the man is on the verge of dea th so he starts to depend more on his instinct to survive rather than his willpower. The man decided to carry out his plan and began calling to the dog, however, in the man’s voice, there was fear.As soon as we read that the man is so afraid that it can be heard in his voice, the dog recognizes it immediately. â€Å"Something was the matter, and its suspicious nature sensed danger-it knew not what danger, somewhere, somehow, in its brain arose an apprehension of the man† (662). Throughout the whole story, the dog follows the man, even if sometimes it did not wish to. With one sudden change in the man’s behavior, the dog instinctively knows that something is amiss. The man also realizes that the dog is scared of him because of his new attitude, so he tries his best to remain calm and calls for the dog once more.This time the man tricked the dog, however it was already too late for the man to rely on his instinct rather than his will; he could no longer clutch any thing with his frost-bitten fingers to try and kill the dog with. In the end, through the naturalistic story telling of the famous author Jack London, we can ascertain that when it comes to survival in the wilderness, it is best to survive on instinct rather than ones willpower. Mother Nature will not accept the will of fools who are not afraid of, or do not respect her power.

Ralph Closes His Eyes And Pray To God - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 670 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2019/04/12 Category Literature Essay Level High school Tags: Lord of The Flies Essay Did you like this example? Ralph extended onto the beach wherever the water meets the sand. Laying on the sand, Ralph closes his eyes and pray to God that something would save him, a ship, a plane, literally anything that would keep him out of this madness. He starts to open his eyes and looked up at a huge peaked cap. It was a white topped cap and on top of the inexperienced shade of the height was a crown. Ralph saw white drill, epaulettes, a revolver and many things. A naval officer stood on the sand, looking down at Ralph in vary astonishment. Ralph looked at the officer with unequivocal worry and stood motionless on the hot sand. He wormed his way to the officer trying to get as close as he could to avoid Jack. â€Å"Fun and games, so who’s in charge of this little war you having?† the officer asked with a laugh. Ralphs eyes faltered, he instinctively reached for the creamy shell and his dry lips folded into a frown. Jack started forward. â€Å"You’re talking too much,† he restored snapping at the officer. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Ralph Closes His Eyes And Pray To God" essay for you Create order He readies his spear with both hands and inched closer to Ralph. Jack’s tribe obeying their chief’s order, moved in toward Ralph as well, though reluctant and unable to look away from the officer while doing so. â€Å"Now son, put down that spear okay?† the officer instructed. The playful smile on the man’s face gradually melted away as he gathered the seriousness of the situation. Jack broke his eye contact with the officer, now only feet away from Ralph. â€Å"Son, I’m not going to tell you again,† the officer ordered. Placing his hand on his revolver. Ralph’s pupils expanded, his suity arms opened, attempting to leap for the officer. But just before he was able to plant his feet to spring forward, Jack reached for Ralph’s shoulder, pulling him backward by his clavicle. Jack raised his hand and angled his spear downward. â€Å"I’m no thief!† Jack shouted. Showing no hesitation and jamming the lethal end of his spear into Ralph’s chest with a force held bend on having the last word. Ralph yelled out an unearthly scream. His body crumbling into the sand. Blood spilled over Ralph’s ribs and onto the damp shore beneath his scraped bruised feet. As the spear tore through his flesh, a sudden power raced beneath Ralph’s immunity. His knee buckled and he spits up blood. He fell on his back launching himself into a coughing fit. Blood sprayed through his clenched teeth. Sam and Eric ran to his side, bent down and supported his head with the palms of their hands. The twins took off their tattered shorts and used them to apply pressure to Ralph’s gaping wound. It is clear that all life had resided in him had vanished. The one they had once called their leader, all passion, all hatred, all hope, motionless. His vacant eye starred up toward the location of the hiding sun which had failed on all accounts to fight it’s way through the veil black smoke that had now wholly encapsulated the perimeter of the island. The waves came forward and kissed Ralph’s legs and chest before receding, swallowing blood with each passing visit. This scene mirrored itself many times before Samneric finally curled up on either side of him and wrapped their tiny arms around his waist and as their bodies nestled into the sand together. They for the end of civility, the order loss of order and the descent to the shore of their wise selfless chief. A sudden pulsing insulation crept beneath the ground surging toward the center of the spasming island and three energetic fireballs cracked and blew up, climbing up trees with impatient haste sprang upward in a seemingly choreographed succession and the flame screamed at the sky. All that could be seen was sand, fire and a screen of blackness. The ocean boiled silver and orange.