"Big Two-Hearted River

Hemingway’s “Big Two-Hearted River”

I enjoyed reading this story.  Hemingway made me feel as if I was the one writing the story because it felt as if I were actually there describing Nick’s every move.  He was so descriptive throughout the story.  For example when Nick “broke off some springs of the heathery sweet fern, and put them under his pack straps. The chafing crushed it and he smelled it as he walked”.  I could almost smell the fern as he walked.  I could have done without the description when Nick pulled out his knife and grabbed one of the trout while holding on to it and whacked it on the log.  Yuck! I cannot even do that when I catch a fish.  It was hard to read the first time.

I know the story has more to it besides Nick getting off a train in a burnt city and carrying his heavy pack to find the river to go fishing.  Is Nick escaping life?  When he gets off the train he sees Seney burnt.  My first thoughts were this story is going to be a disaster or sad story?  However, the story is quite lively with Nick’s happiness and his enjoyment with nature.   I’m just not sure what the hidden meaning is with Nick and his fishing trip.  I’m excited to see where this will go if we discuss this story in class.  I would love to dig deeper and see what it is that Hemingway really wanted us to get out of the story.

While reading the story I found myself pondering on the many different things in the story.  Do they have all have meaning or am I just way off the mark?  The big one would be Nick’s fishing experience but I want to dive into two different questions.  My first is the river.  It flows though the burnt town of Seney and through the pine plain.  The title of the story is “Big Two Hearted River” is one heart the sadness of the brunt town and the other heart dealing with exploration and new beginnings?  At the end the river is a swamp.  I have no clue what the swamp represents. The last line in the book says “There were plenty of days coming when he could fish the swamp”.  The swap was past the river but he does not want to go there now.  Why?  Again is there a hidden meaning?

My other pondering question is the grasshoppers.  What do the grasshoppers represent? In the beginning he is stretching his legs and having a smoke when he sees a grasshopper but it’s black.  He picks it up and inspects the grasshopper and it has absolutely no color.  Later he walks on and when he sets up camp he goes and gets grasshoppers so he can use them as bait.  Was he just inspecting them for bait or do they have some symbolic reason for the description and how much detail Hemingway goes into when he is fishing?  Nick goes to get the grasshoppers and they are cold and the dew is still on the grass so he is grabbing them and putting them into a bottle.  Nick finds a log and there is a grasshopper lodge where there are hundreds.    

I could go on with much more until I could ask every question imaginable but I will leave it with the rivers and the grasshoppers.