Speckled Trout critical analysis
In “Speckled Trout” Ron Rash, the writer of the story, uses the characters, the setting, the plot, and symbolism to show the theme of his short story. Ron Rash as born in Chester, South Carolina, in 1953. He grew up in a small town in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. He graduated from Gardner-Webb University and Clemson University. He is an American poet, short story writer, and novelist. He has won several awards for his works. The main character of “Speckled Trout” is Lanny. He is a sixteen year old boy who has a job at a place called Pay-Lo. For extra money he goes out and catches fish to sell to a man named Old Man Jenkins. Lanny is also very greedy. He is doesn’t think about any consequences, and pays no attention to any warnings; which is just as a typical teenager would act. Lanny’s father tries to be a good parent by trying to give Lanny warnings to help him stay out of trouble, but again Lanny doesn’t listen to warnings. One of Lanny’s friends in named Travis. He is a pot head, so he has the connections to help Lanny sell his marijuana plants. Travis introduces Lanny to Leonard. He is the local drug dealer of the small town that they live in. Leonard is known for being a really tough guy. Leonard is also a smart guy; he went to law school for a few months, but he got kicked out for smoking weed. The Toomey’s are the ones growing the marijuana plants. They live on a lot of land near Caney Creek. The setting of this short story takes place in a small town in North Carolina near the French Broad River. It never specifically said exactly what year it was, but based on suggestions one could make an educated guess that it was in modern times. It also never said which time of the year it was. Ron Rash also gave hints that in was the fall since it was harvesting season for the marijuana plants. The plot of “Speckled Trout” starts out as Lanny driving his dad’s truck to Caney Creek to go fishing. Everything he was catching wasn’t good