Valerie Fernandez

Emilija Stojanovic

English 9

“The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant” by W.D. Wetherell

Summary:

In this short story, a 14-year old boy has a humungous crush on a 17-year old girl named Sheila Mant. After a long time of just watching and admiring her, he has the courage to approach her. When she is playing softball in her front lawn with her family, the boy asks her if she wants to go to see a band in Dixford (town) with him. She agrees and the boy is very excited. They decide to get to the concert by the boy’s canoe. As the boy is preparing the canoe, he puts his fishing rod in by instinct. The night of the concert, they were on their way across the river, when the boy felt his fishing rod tug. He then realized it was the biggest bass he had ever hooked. Sheila told the boy that fishing was dumb, and because of this, the boy was embarrassed to reel in the fish. He didn’t want to let it go though so he just kept dragging it along in the water. When they reached shore, the boy tried to reel in the fish but the tug was too strong. So quicker than he can remember, the boy just cut then line in half and the fish was released. At the fair, didn’t even have so much fun with Sheila, and she ended up leaving home with Eric Caswell (popular guy) in his Corvette.

Point of View:

First person- from main character’s point of view. The boy’s thoughts and feelings are clearly revealed throughout the story.

EX: “It was late August by the time I got up the nerve to ask her out. The tortured will-I’s, won’t-I’s, the agonized indecision over what to say, the false starts toward her house and embarrassed retreats…”

Conflict:

Person vs. self- the main character is debating whether he should catch the bass, even if it means embarrassing himself.

Crisis:

The bass was hooked on to the fishing line, but he didn’t want to catch it because if he reeled it in, he would embarrass himself because Sheila thought fishing was dumb.

Resolution:

In the end, the main character cut the fishing line and lost one of the biggest bass he could have ever caught.

Sheila ditched the guy and his canoe for Eric Caswell and his corvette. L

Character Development:

In the beginning, the main character was “infatuated” with Sheila Mant and would do anything to get her attention.

Before the month was over the “spell she cast” on the main character was gone and he no longer had feelings for her.

When he grew up, he realized that there were plenty of fish in the sea.

Themes:

Self-distrust- the main character felt like if he was honest about what he loved to do (fishing), he would look foolish in front of Sheila.

Depreciation- Sheila looked over the fact that he liked her and wanted to impress her.

Regret- in the end, the main character regrets that he didn’t catch the bass because of a girl.