How we cite our quotes: (Part.Paragraph)
Quote #7
His mouth dry, his heart down, Nick reeled in. He had never seen so big a trout. There was a heaviness, a power not to be held, and then the bulk of him, as he jumped. (II.31)
Sometimes, nature can have a mystical aspect. You might say that there is nothing mystical about a big fish (it’s not even that big), but Hemingway certainly seems to be evoking the idea of uncontainable nature. “A power not to be held”? Sounds uncontainable to us. No wonder it freaks him out.
Quote #8
He thought of the trout somewhere on the bottom, holding himself steady over the gravel, far below the light, under the logs, with the hook in his jaw. Nick knew the trout’s teeth would cut through the snell of the hook. The hook would imbed itself in his jaw. He’d bet the trout was angry. Anything that size would be angry. (II.33)
Ouch. Sounds like trout are some pretty tough fish. But you know what’s weird about this passage? Nick is actually imagining himself as the trout, in a way. Look at how the narration doesn’t just end with Nick’s perception, which would run something like “And then the trout disappeared under the water.” End of thought. Instead, Nick’s mind follows the trout to the bottom of the stream, imagines the trout’s future with the hook embedded in its jaw, and even imagines how the trout is feeling in the moment. He’s really worked everything out for this trout, hasn’t he? Even if we don’t compare Nick and the trout directly, we can think about Nick’s reflection of the trout’s reaction to a thing like almost getting caught: namely, how it’s going to bear the hook for the rest of its life, and how it’s going to react emotionally.
Quote #9
Nick did not want to go in there now. He felt a reaction against deep wading with the water deepening up under his armpits, to hook big trout in places impossible to land them. In the swamp the banks were bare, the big cedars came together overhead, the sun did not come through, except in patches; in the fast deep water, in the half light, the fishing would be tragic. In the swamp fishing was a tragic adventure. Nick did not want it. He did not want to go down stream any further today. (II.60)
Geez, Nick, then don’t go into the swamp already! We won’t blame you; it sounds nasty. But Nick seems to think that he is obligated to go into the swamp. Think about how Nick describes the swamp and the language that he uses: deep, sunless, tragic. Now think about the dark places of a person’s mind, which hold things like traumatic memories that people would rather not return to. Now think about both of those things together.