Big Two Hearted River Literary Essay

Lauren Berdecia
American Sport Stories
Literary Essay
Professor Erdheim
October 13th, 2014

Struggling could be difficult to overcome but as long as you have patience

you could overcome anything. In the short story “ The Big Two-Hearted River”

by Ernest Hemingway, Nick Adam, the main character is going through severe

mental trauma from World War 1. Fishing was his escape from thinking about

the atrocious war he had returned from. Nick is a likeable character because of

his respect for nature and how a simple hobby changed his life into something

positive.

Bad memories had taken over his life and Nick suffered from post-

traumatic stress disorder. Nick couldn't help being obsessed about the atrocity

and pain of the war. Again, fishing was a very effective way of enabling him

to put aside his war-torn spirit and memories. He recalled a sense of comfort and

satisfaction that he had not been feeling for so long when he faced up the

current as mentioned in the story "Nick's heart tightened as the trout moved. He felt

all the old feeling.” (2) and " it was a long time since Nick had looked into a stream

and seen trout. They were very satisfactory” (2). Fishing played a very important

role in affecting and controlling Nick's feelings. It helps Nick to forget about the

war and feel happy. It's an enjoyable hobby that can bring Nick joys and happiness

so that he doesn't have to think of the past however challenging fishing was. For

Nick returning to an old hobby made him evolve and grow into the person he

always was. Nicks journey is a drama based upon his strategy of rehabilitation and how he

is determined to eliminate his unpleasant thoughts. Mental control is what he is

trying to contain. His conflict is to be able to suppress bad memories and to

eliminate the way he feels, has felt or will feel in the future. If one knew that they

would not feel permanently content they would not have given the energy to obtain

positive thoughts. Nick knew that even with all the bad he could overpower the

negativity to begin a new life.

The story is based on Nicks journey to find his inner-peace with an old

hobby. As the story is told in third person, limited omniscient it is still narrating

largely from Nicks mind. The narrator is not the one who cares about Nicks

thoughts or actions, it is just displaying how he thinks or acts. With this said it is

shown on how Nick goes through this adventure with the struggles he faces,

physically and most importantly mentally.

Many things connect to how this is a healing method for Nick. The excitement

of fishing is giving him the same sort of purpose during the war. The excitement is

just a way of coping with stability. Nick knows that he can only take a little bit of

excitement at a time. Besides bringing back images of excitement and all at once

provides mental duress, the image of a cigarette also gives him a way of trying to gain

some emotional detachment from the excitement. The cigarette restores a small way of

stability of self-control. Even though Nick temporarily lost his control way to fast and

even lost the trout, he still barely manages to continue on. He will deal with excitement;

but he will return to the emotional world, not too quickly because he still need to process

it. The river is a way of proving to Nick that he can count on it. It will always be in the

same place which gives him all sorts of comfort. Change is not anything he wants to be a

part of. That is because change is unpredictable, and you can’t do much about it. The

river is apart of the natural world, which is always good for healing. The trout is a a

symbol of moving forward. The way Nick realizes how the trout move in the water; by

holding themselves steady against the current. I can relate this too Nicks mental state of

how he is trying to keep his thoughts and emotions steady but still faces those sudden

anxiety breakouts. These are ways of how they connect to his life in a symbolic way.

“Big Two-Hearted River” marks the beginning of Nicks healing process. With the

struggles in his life, the voyage of creating himself all over again made a huge impact for

his survivor’s guilt. It made him committed to finish this expedition not just to catch fish

but reestablish who he truly was before the war. He was filled with satisfaction and

happiness.