The Third Bank of the RiverIn

In "The Third Bank of the River," João Guimarães Rosa does explore these separate, symbolic opposites in the lives of members of the narrator’s family. He then crafts, out of the conflict, a third position which can be, at best, described as a treaty between two very unlike things. Often times, these extremes are the very definitions of characterization we come to expect in a short story, and, by reading between these lines, Rosa was able to jumble these words up "The Third Bank of the River" into a work of unclear and allegorical by nature. By never exactly defining the third part that is created, the author is able to explore this clearly important topic in greater depth. The importance of the crossing is that, in every case the author presents, it represents the journey from one position to its opposite, continuing until the characters reach their final destination, the third, middle situation. It is in this way that father’s crossing has a profound effect on the family and the way they play out the rest of their lives.