The River Of Life In Norman Maclean's 'A River Runs Through It'

The River of Life When reading A River Runs through It, written by Norman Maclean, we uncover a number of wise statements. Not only does the narrator provide the reader with wise statements, but he also gives examples and shows us real situations throughout the novel. With each predicament or situation, we can learn important lessons. A few of these wise statements particularly stand out to me. At the beginning of the novel, Norman says referring to his father, "To him, all good things--trout as well as eternal salvation--come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy"(4.) This quote in particular stands out because it shows the reader the importance of not only God but fly fishing as well in the Maclean family. In this statement, Norman is referring to his fathers thoughts about the universe. His father is explaining that eternal salvation and even trout all come from grace which leads back to God. It is only fitting that we are shown the Maclean family's thin line between fly fishing and religion early on in the novel because a large amount of the novel is based on this understanding. The quote stated above resonates with my life as well. When you think about your blessings, such as health,

Norman's father agrees with his statement by saying, "That I have known and preached" (103.) This is the point in the novel where we discover how little the family knows about Paul's death. Although Norman and his parents do not completely understand Paul or how his death occurred, they love Paul anyways. This statement also allows the reader to see how the Maclean family loves unconditionally. Paul was a difficult person to understand, but Norman explains that they do, in fact, love Paul and can still love Paul without completely understanding him as well as his