From the town, Nick journeys into the woods to eventually reach the river. The river, much like the town of Seney, serves as the “controlling image of [the story’s] thematic conflict” (Stein 557). Here, the earth is physically given life through the river’s water, and so too can Nick be (Stein 557). In Christianity, this giving of life is also true of water. Water is traditionally used for the sacrament (Christian ritual) of baptism, in which the catechumen (the person entering the Church) is plunged or immersed into water (baptizein in Greek meaning to “plunge” or “immerse”), symbolizing their burial into the death of Jesus Christ and their rising with him in his resurrection (Catechism of the Catholic Church para. 1214). Thus, water has a particular significance in “Big Two-Hearted River” as well, considering that Nick goes to the river to recover from the mental chaos caused by his
From the town, Nick journeys into the woods to eventually reach the river. The river, much like the town of Seney, serves as the “controlling image of [the story’s] thematic conflict” (Stein 557). Here, the earth is physically given life through the river’s water, and so too can Nick be (Stein 557). In Christianity, this giving of life is also true of water. Water is traditionally used for the sacrament (Christian ritual) of baptism, in which the catechumen (the person entering the Church) is plunged or immersed into water (baptizein in Greek meaning to “plunge” or “immerse”), symbolizing their burial into the death of Jesus Christ and their rising with him in his resurrection (Catechism of the Catholic Church para. 1214). Thus, water has a particular significance in “Big Two-Hearted River” as well, considering that Nick goes to the river to recover from the mental chaos caused by his