The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant Analysis Essay

In “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant,” Wetherall highlights the theme that you shouldn’t pretend to be someone else to impress someone, proven through appearance imagery, through when he describes her/how she looks at every single point in the day, and contradictory dialogue, that's when she says that she hates fishing but he likes it.

The author's use of dialogue is to show the representations of the fish. As it states “I think fishings dumb, she said making a face. I mean it's boring and all, defiantly dumb” (Wetherell 31). Showing condition dialogue makes him realize that he can't tell her what he loves to do. The use of “fishing is dumb” shows contrary dialogue, when sheila has an opinion that's opposite from this. This dialogue has a descriptive monologue that shows Sheila doesn't understand his love and passion for fishing. Wetherell's use of continuity dialogue is to show thoughts that he is having after she states her opinion about fishing leading to, “Had she tried it once? A messy encounter with worms? It doesn't matter” (Wetherell 32). Showing that there's an argument going on, because of what they each said about the subject. He's confused about her opinion and wants to know why. The use of “had she tried it once?” showing that he's upset with how she's thinking, and he wants a reason why she thinks this way, but he's not going to tell her his thinking. Contingency dialog is shown throughout the story, Wetherell puts this into his story so the readers can see each other's point of view and their thinking process of it. Contradictory dialogue isn't the only literary element he includes in the story either. 

Wetherell uses appearance imagery to suggest to the readers that he views things in the story, or what he sees, allowing us to picture what the character sees. In the article, Wetherell uses appearance imagery to let us picture how the fish looks, and why it's so special. “I could visualize what it looked like. The gape of its mouth, the Flores gill and thick vertical tail.” (Wetherell 49) Showing that that's all he can think/cares about at that moment; it's all he can picture at that moment. The use of “The gape of its mouth, the Flores gill, and thick vertical tail.” Pictures of what the fish looks like in the water, fighting back using the element of apprentice imagery to show us. The author also tells us what is so special about the fishing, telling us “That it was the biggest bass I had ever hooked.” (Wetherell 35) Showing that the fish meant everything to him since it was the best he's caught ever. The use of “biggest bass” shows how big the bass is. This shows how special the fish means to him and he has to soon make the decision, the fish or sheila. 

He chose Sheila and lost the best fish he could have got. However, after that, the mistake was never made again.