Power Of Choice In 'The Bass, The River And Sheila Mant'

“Object, may be missile, fired from Soviet base, Anadyr Peninsular… DEW Line high sensitivity radar now has four objects on its screens. Speed and trajectory indicates they are ballistic missiles” (Frank 89). Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon, which is based on a fictional nuclear attack against the United States by the Soviet Union, is a post-apocalyptic novel set in the early 1960’s in America during the Cold War that aims to warn people of the alarming possibility of nuclear war with the Soviets. Fort Repose, a small town in central Florida, faces the aftermath of this attack. Randy Bragg, a young man in Fort Repose, must rise up to save his town from their crisis and help rebuild it. This novel tells the story of how the community of Fort Repose puts aside their normal social boundaries and prejudice to come together to achieve a common goal: survival. Pat Frank uses difficult settings, challenging conflicts, and indirect characterization to convey his theme that during a catastrophe, a community must work together to survive.

The second theme to me was when Lizabeth had to grow up. For example in the setting of the story the story showed poverty. Lizabeth parents are constantly working to provide

One night in the short story “The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant” written by W.D. Wetherell, the narrator realized that doing what he loves and being who he truly is comes before any significant person in his life. The narrator was obsessed with both Sheila Mant and fishing so if he wasn’t thinking about one it would be the other. On the way down to their date, the narrator found out that Sheila Mant thought fishing was stupid and boring while he could not live without it. During the story, the narrator decided to let down a fishing line while Sheila was not paying attention and this is where he started to face a dilemma. He realized that “Sheila began talking about something else, but all my attention was taken up now with the fish” (Wetherell

If you were stuck on the canoe who would you pick, the Bass or Sheila? First, he could always pick Sheila because he has been in love with her forever. He thinks that she is quite beautiful and cares for her greatly. He also adores her because of her long tan legs and enjoys watching her tan during the summer. He thinks her white dress shows off her figure more than her normal bathing suit. He also has the option of taking the Bass over Sheila. This Bass is by far the biggest bass that he has ever seen and has been working to catch it for months. The line was running wild; the Bass was clearly putting up a fight. The rod was bending like no other, and he saw the line tighten but ignored it and stayed focused on Sheila. Why would he choose Sheila

In the short story, “Blood Knots” grief is revealed in different ways. In the beginning of the story the main character is described as calm and laid back. This gives the reader the sense that she does not care for her father’s death and she announces, “I am still waiting for my own emotion to surface in what I am anticipating will be a sense of overwhelming, loss”(Burton 33). The main character is in great shock that even she cannot describe it. It gives the reader the sense that the main character may be experiencing some depression because as it is stated she is waiting for her feelings to surface, and she might be feeling down that she is not reacting as normal people should be. She is convincing herself that she is not worthy and she doesn’t love her father, even though on the inside she loves him . The main character needs to realize that she is taking it in her own way. Furthermore, the second grief in the story is the

One of the main themes of this story is that sacrifice. The narrator of this story is not given a name but he is fourteen year old. The narrator has a major crush on a women- seventeen year old, Sheila Mant. The narrator finally, and I say finally, asks Sheila on a date via the narrator’s boat. Then the narrator is in a pickle, he catches the biggest bass he ever caught. He has to choose over Sheila on the bass. What does he choose? Sheila of course but towards the end of the story he regrets that decision. Just throughout the story W.D. Wetherel uses many specific imagery. Imagery is a way of writing that the author gives you visual descriptive writing or figurative language. One quote that stood out to me was “There would be other Sheila Mant’s in life, other fish, and though I came close once or twice, it was these secrets, hidden tuggings in the night that claimed me, and I never made that mistake again.”(41) This quote has a lot of meaning in this story

In the story “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant” a boy takes a girl named Sheila Mant on a date and has to make a difficult decision. That difficult decision is his dream girl or a huge fish that he might never get the chance to catch again. This is a hard choice to make because he loves fishing, but Sheila on the other hand does not. He could pick Sheila because he loves her very much. For the past couple of summers he has been admiring and watching her. When ever she would look or glance towards him he would do something to impress her. One time when she looked over at him and he climbed up onto his diving board and did his best back tuck he could do just to get her attention. Another reason why he could possibly pick her is he thinks

He confronts internal conflict in the story when he mounts the rod in the boat. The narrator is getting ready for his date with Sheila in the middle of the story, when he “mounted his Mitchell reel on his(made changes to quote) Pflueger spinning reel rod and stuck it in the stern”.(Wetherell 2) The narrator crosses paths with internal conflict as he puts the rod in the boat, allowing for the possibility of getting the bass on his line and causing conflict with Sheila's dislike for fishing. Along with his love of fishing. The narrator also encounters internal conflict when Sheila brings up Eric Caswell. Sheila is speaking to the narrator as they are rowing up the river, in the middle of the story. “Eric Caswells going to be there. He strokes the number four.”(Wetherell 2) The narrator deals with internal conflict when Sheila brings up Eric Caswell because they are on a date with each other and she is thinking about somebody else. To continue, the narrator faces internal conflict when sheila says she thinks fishing is dumb. Sheila is talking to the narrator as they are rowing up river in the middle of the story. “I think fishing is dumb she said, making a face. I mean it is boring and all . Definitely dumb.”(Wetherell 2) The narrator confronts internal conflict when Sheila said that she thinks fishing is dumb since the narrator enjoys fishing and likes Sheila so much. From the

Wetherell’s story “The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant”. The 14-year old narrator is facing a huge predicament. The boy is on a date with the girl of his dreams. The boy and girl are canoeing up a river in Vermont. The young girl, Sheila, has informed the narrator of her disgust of fishing. This is a hefty problem for the boy. The narrator absolutely loves to fish. In fact, during their date he has a pole casted into the water. After hearing this, the boy was determined not give Sheila any knowledge of his favorite hobby. Though, the narrator neglected to discreetly reel in the line. What seemed to be the biggest bass in the river, snagged on the line. There is no way the boy could let Sheila know of this. The rest of the night, the narrator maneuvers the boat perfectly and somehow manages to keep the fish on the line, without Sheila having any knowledge. They finally reach their destination and the boy is faced with a crippling decision. The boy has to either cut the line, letting the fish go, or risk having Sheila lose all interest in him by reeling in the fish. The narrator decides to cut the line and says, “With a sick nauseous feeling in my stomach, I saw the rod unbend”(Wetherell 40). In this quote, the narrator is overcome with a sick feeling for letting that fish go. He knows he has made a mistake. Later that night, Sheila ditches him for a different fellow. The boy was untrue to himself and what he really wanted. Fishing is what really made him happy. The boy learned a lesson that many people still need to learn today. Do not let others influence the way one may act or speak. Be true to oneself, and happiness will

Themes in a story help to describe what the book is about. It does this in the book Night by helping describe what World War 2 was like for the Jews. It also helps to see what the people in the camps went through. My two themes from night are imprisonment and survival. The first one I will talk about is imprisonment, then i’ll talk about survival.

As I read this story, I wonder if the narrator will pick bass or Sheila. It is possible that he’ll pick the bass. Only because bass loves to fish everyday every night he goes fishing still yet he doesn’t hate it. Second of all bass has lots of knowledge in fishing then anything else. He also is really impressive at it and the fish is really big. Sheila is pretty bass likes her she seems kind and knows lots of stuff and always being creped on by bass. Second of all Sheila is older then bass by about 1 year. Last is the funny part is when

Will the narrator pick the Bass or Sheila? He may pick the Bass. Firstly, the boy might pick the bass is because it is his favorite past time. He has a lot of knowledge about fishing; he knows what a bass sounds like from a splash. Fishing is 2nd nature to him; every time he gets his boat

Theme is the message about life or human nature that is “the focus” in the story that the writer tells ( Glossary of Literary Terms 3). A theme in this story would be “Love and Blindness”. This falls under the theme category because it is saying love itself changes the way you are as a person but it also has its blindness. The “blindness” is not so much of not being able to see them physically but how they truly are as a person. A person can be very depressing, arrogant, or even abusive but the person in love will see past it hence the term blind. According to the text, “ Young Aubigny’s rule was a strict one, too, and under it his negroes had forgotten how to be gay…” (Chopin Pg 2). Later in the story it states “ Armand is the proudest father...he hasn’t punished one of them since the baby was born...he only laughed” (Chopin Pg 2). This proves the theme is true as it demonstrates it with Armand and Desiree’s love to be so powerful yet so blind (LitCharts Themes Pg

Sometimes people have to make a hard decision or choice in life when deep down they have to end up letting go of one of the options. In the story, “The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant” that was brought to life by W.D Wetherell, when the narrator had to make a hard choice of either letting Sheila go or the bass.There are many reasons the narrator had one of the hardest choices, including his immaturity as a teenage boy. The other main reason that it was a hard choice was that he wanted to impress Sheila, and since she didn’t like fishing he had to pretend to be someone he was not.

In the short story ‘The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant’, the character Sheila has proven herself to be rude, narcissistic, and self absorbed. On the very first page of the story, the narrator visits Sheila while she is playing a game of softball with her family. Sheila “didn’t seem to see [him] at all,” even though he is right in front of her (The Bass). This just goes to show that she couldn’t care less about anyone but herself, since she wouldn’t pay even an ounce of attention to someone trying to talk to her. Further, when Sheila and the narrator were in the canoe together, she candorly states “I think fishing’s dumb… it’s boring and all. Definitely dumb” (The Bass). This even further proves Sheila’s narcissism because, if she