BIG TWO-HEARTED RIVER

NICK

• Just came home from war
• He lost a friend named Hopkins
• Tries to convince himself he can go back to normal
• Has to adapt to how different his home is now
• Expected everything to be the same but his life won't be the same

SENEY, MICHIGAN

• Takes place a long time ago, there are still saloons
• Most of it has been burnt down but might actually just be symbolic
• To how Nick feels after the war
• Nick knows the place well
• The fire line stopped at a certain place and it was just a normal field untouched by war

GRASSHOPPERS

• Turned black after their environment changed due to the war
• Didn't expect change but they did in order to survive
• Symbolizes Nick because they had to adapt to life after war
• They had to harden their skin to survive but who knows how long it will be hardened
• Symbolizes change and moving on

NICK AFTER THE WAR

• Very careful supplies like food
• Very alert and knows what to do to
• Possibly some PTSD, having trouble adapting, doesn't want to talk
• Flashbacks, everything reminds him go war, the fish, the town
• Recalls Hopkins who he argued with then Hopkins later killed himself

NICK VS HEMINGWAY

• Both were in a war and fished and hunted
• War affected both of them in their everyday lives, internal conflicts
• Maybe more hopeful than Hemingway, he finds hope in places not burnt
• Hemingway went to the same town when he came back to war,
• Fished in the Fox river finding peace

Untitled Slide

NICK BEING HOPEFUL

• Takes a fern leaf with him under his shoulder
• Could symbolize the innocence in him before the war
• Finds peace in the Fox river, reminding him of his life before
• Finds the place that hasn't been burnt down
• Convincing himself he is happy and was looking for the piece not burnt

THE TITLE

• Split in two like his life
• Before and after the war
• Went to river just because before the war
• Now he is there because he needs peace
• Was more innocent before the war now has internal conflict

QUOTES

• "They were not the big grasshoppers with yellow and black or red and black wings whirring as the fly up. They were just ordinary hoppers but all a sooty black in color."
• "Nick's heart tightened as the trout moved. He felt all the old feeling."
• "He felt he had left everything behind, the need for thinking, the need to write, other needs. It was all back with him."
• "cTwo hundred yards down the hillside the fire line stopped. Then it was sweet fern, growing ankle high, to walk through and clumps of jack pines, a long undulating country with frequent rises and descents, sandy underfoot and the country was alive again."

QUESTIONS

• What do you think the grasshoppers symbolize?
• Why do you think Nick doesn't want to talk?
• Why does Nick take the fern with him?
• What does the title symbolize?