The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant by W.D. Wetherell Literary Analysis Essay

“Love is reliable and infatuation is temporary”. (Anna Hood). In the story “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant”by W.D. Wetherell, The main character at the age of 14 had a reliable love with fishing, unfortunately his infatuation with Sheila mant got him to ignore his love to impress her. When the main character let’s Sheila Mant into his heart he fails to see that she does not seem to be in any way into him. When you see that she doesn’t seem to match well with him through the story. 

However when you start the book you can see that he is mostly all in with the infatuation(Sheila Mant). Meanwhile , many can see that he is almost all in for Sheila Mant 1 summer. Like in this quote from the story “There was a summer in my life when the only creature that seemed lovelier to me than a largemouth bass was Sheila Mant”(38). He thought the only thing he loved more than a bass was Sheila Mant.

You can see the decision making process between the main character and Sheila Mant. One example is when they get talking about who will be at the concert Sheila Mant tells him that she knows someone there and loves to hear them. The main character is puzzled on how she knows this but he doesn’t engage in knowing because he is blinded by her (Beauty).  Many people get blinded by the beauty of women and  try to change themselves to make them  but that never goes as planned(Infatuation). Even though she is older he does like her but he does not know if she likes him,  but from a bird's eye perspective we all know she hardly knew he existed.”I took the full brunt of her long red hair and well-spaced freckles”(36) He is fully blinded by her infatuation of her outward appearance.   

When decision making comes into perspective and is involved with infatuation most of the time infatuation for someone or something takes over the decision making which makes most of the time a bad decision.  In this quote it  can be realized that it relates to the story very well. “Men outlive their love, but they don’t outlive the consequences of their recklessness”. (Geroge Elliot)

“I never went anywhere without my fishing rod”(36). This quote shows that he decides that he will not go anywhere without his fishing rod which tells us that he enjoys fishing a lot. 

The main character made a hard decision that he will regret for the rest of his life. He always invades Sheila to cut his fishing line. When it comes to infatuation, who or what is affected but it may be in harm's way because when infatuation takes over you don’t seem to think straight anymore. I have shown you 4 quotes of  infatuation and decision making that have caused this main character to change many things about himself for someone else.