The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant

In the short story The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant, the narrator becomes fond of a girl at the river where he is vacationing. This is Sheila Mant, a girl three years older than him. In the story, the narrator works up the courage to ask Sheila out. While they are going to a concert by canoe, the narrator casts a line to try and catch a fish. The moment Sheila Mant says that fishing bores her, a bass is gets hooked by the line. The narrator choses to not be honest with Sheila in telling her that he likes fishing, and at the end of the story is left without Sheila or the bass. That night, he learned a very important lesson in honesty.Point of View – First person actorCrisis – The narrator becomes obsessed with Sheila and wants to ask her out to a concert.Conflict – Person vs. Self – Should the narrator chose being honest with Shelia so he can catch the fish or should he be dishonest so that Shelia will like him?

Person vs. Person – The narrator struggles with Sheila because he tries to please her while trying also to catch what he thinks is the biggest bass he has ever hooked.Character Development -The main character, the narrator, developes in the story because by the end, he learned that being honest is more important than anything else. He also learned the importance in staying true to oneself.Direct Characterization – Page 307 – “Sheila was the middle daughter-at seventeen, all but out of reach.” Indirect Characterization – Page 309 – “What does, is that at that fragile moment in time I would have given anything not to appear dumb in Sheila’s severe and unforgiving eyes.” Resolution – The resolution of the story is when Sheila choses to go home from the concert with Eric Caswell instead of the narrator.