The River
Seen from a male perspective, protecting your manhood is very important. Because maintaining your manhood, also means maintaining your pride, which is a priced possession for a man. They like showing control and courage, so that you’ll never see them scared or in fear of something, especially in front of their own children. A father wants to be a role model to their children and really wants to learn being brave and courageous. To be better than they’ve ever been. Therefore, are the children never supposed to see their father break and a man will go great lengths to hide his fear. That is what the father in James W. Brown’s short story from 2009 “The River” does.
“The River” is about a father, who takes his son camping by the river. …show more content…
He keeps on reminding him to be careful crossing the river. “You want to take your time, kiddo, he said.” He even carries the son on his back, while crossing the river. The only thing the father cares about is getting his son over the river safely. The first and second time crossing the river goes fairly easy, because the current isn’t that strong. Yet when they have to go back home, the next morning, the current has gotten stronger. “…the current ran clear and flat over fist-size rocks, thigh deep. He was thinking too much” The father is again having second thoughts about crossing the river, because he can see the potential danger. He decides for the second time to just ignore his doubt and just cross the river. He makes it over the river with their backpacks, but on his way back to his son, he slips. Once again, he decides to just ignore the warning and continuously keeps his son in the dark, so that he won’t lose face in front of him. The current gets higher and stronger, therefore he continues slipping with his son on his back too. Gradually, he realizes that there’s no way out of this, but yet remains in denial till the bitter end. The ending suggests that the father and his son unfortunately never makes over the river. “Dad, you okay?” he heard his son saying as if from some other place.” This other place could be heaven, which means that they’re both …show more content…
The father is very protective of his manhood and wants to show his son, he is a real man. “..after he’d slopped out onto the rocks ad flexed his arms like Mr. Universe…” He won’t allow his son to see him fail and scared, which is also mainly the cause of why he decides not to tell him about the strong current. He wants to seem brave, like his father did, when he was a child and probably what every man wants to seem like in front of their children. He knew that there’s was a potential danger in crossing river from the moment they got there, but he couldn’t admit it to his son, because if he did, then he would have let his son down and the trip would be a failure. In his eyes, a man shouldn’t admit failure, because that’s a sign of weakness, which is why his son never really is aware of the potential danger ahead. The father’s intentions were good and he really did just try to teach his son to be a man, but sometimes being a good father is just more important than being a real
Seen from a male perspective, protecting your manhood is very important. Because maintaining your manhood, also means maintaining your pride, which is a priced possession for a man. They like showing control and courage, so that you’ll never see them scared or in fear of something, especially in front of their own children. A father wants to be a role model to their children and really wants to learn being brave and courageous. To be better than they’ve ever been. Therefore, are the children never supposed to see their father break and a man will go great lengths to hide his fear. That is what the father in James W. Brown’s short story from 2009 “The River” does.
“The River” is about a father, who takes his son camping by the river. …show more content…
He keeps on reminding him to be careful crossing the river. “You want to take your time, kiddo, he said.” He even carries the son on his back, while crossing the river. The only thing the father cares about is getting his son over the river safely. The first and second time crossing the river goes fairly easy, because the current isn’t that strong. Yet when they have to go back home, the next morning, the current has gotten stronger. “…the current ran clear and flat over fist-size rocks, thigh deep. He was thinking too much” The father is again having second thoughts about crossing the river, because he can see the potential danger. He decides for the second time to just ignore his doubt and just cross the river. He makes it over the river with their backpacks, but on his way back to his son, he slips. Once again, he decides to just ignore the warning and continuously keeps his son in the dark, so that he won’t lose face in front of him. The current gets higher and stronger, therefore he continues slipping with his son on his back too. Gradually, he realizes that there’s no way out of this, but yet remains in denial till the bitter end. The ending suggests that the father and his son unfortunately never makes over the river. “Dad, you okay?” he heard his son saying as if from some other place.” This other place could be heaven, which means that they’re both …show more content…
The father is very protective of his manhood and wants to show his son, he is a real man. “..after he’d slopped out onto the rocks ad flexed his arms like Mr. Universe…” He won’t allow his son to see him fail and scared, which is also mainly the cause of why he decides not to tell him about the strong current. He wants to seem brave, like his father did, when he was a child and probably what every man wants to seem like in front of their children. He knew that there’s was a potential danger in crossing river from the moment they got there, but he couldn’t admit it to his son, because if he did, then he would have let his son down and the trip would be a failure. In his eyes, a man shouldn’t admit failure, because that’s a sign of weakness, which is why his son never really is aware of the potential danger ahead. The father’s intentions were good and he really did just try to teach his son to be a man, but sometimes being a good father is just more important than being a real