Ernest Hemingway's short story "Big Two-Hearted River" is written in
two parts, and consists of one character, Nick. In the first part of the
story, Nick has returned by train, knapsack in tow, to the town of Seney,
only to find it burned to the ground, with only the foundations of the
buildings remaining. As he heads towards the river, Nick notices that
everything is charred, even the grasshoppers have taken on a black color.
He makes his way to the river and sets up camp. He opens a can of pork and
beans and a can of spaghetti and empties them into a frying pan over the
campfire. Nick then utters the only complete sentence spoken aloud in the
story, "I've got a right to eat this kind of stuff, if I'm willing to carry
it" (Hemingway 215). He then made coffee the way Hopkins, an old fishing
buddy, made it and then climbed inside his tent. The second part of the
story centers on Nick's day of fishing in the river for trout. After
making pancakes for breakfast and onion sandwiches for lunch later, he
heads to the river's bank. Using grasshoppers for bait, he catches two
large ones and then heads back to camp.
Hemingway details every step of Nick's journey, describing the lay of
the land, the way the trout looked in the water, the motions of setting up
camp, giving the reader a vivid portrayal of Nick's adventure. The exact
name of the river is never mentioned in the story. However, there are
connections to the title. The purpose of Nick's journey was fishing, and
the story ends with his satisfaction of catching two trout. And the short
story is written in two parts and details two days in the character's life.
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