May 10, 2011

The Third Bank of the River

While I was reading the Third Bank of the River I kept trying to think ahead as to what the author was trying to get across. One of the things I kept questioning was what exactly did the father leaving symbolize. I knew there was more to the story then just the simple fact that the father left for no reason. After reading I came to the conclusion that for me he personally symbolized a form of death. One day he just decided to leave and to the son his father was gone forever. The author gives us many clues as to why we should look at the father leaving as symbolic. Guimaraes Rosa gave very little detail and explanation. It was as if she wanted us to form our own opinions from our own lives in order to make sense of the story. Another explanation for the father leaving was to be a symbol of divorce. The father was leaving and the son could still see him but could not connect to his father like he used to. That is just like when a mother and father get a divorce and usually one parent leaves the house and the other one is the primary guardian. In this example the father left and the mother took care of the children.

1 comment:

  1. I thought that Olivia had great insight and explained her points very well for the story. The story was a little hard to understand and she did a great job diving into it and explaining the symbolism.

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