Thus, the description of an empty town is somewhat accurate. Hemingway probably used the image of a burned out Seney to draw a parallel with the devastation of war. After departing the depot in Seney, Nick follows a road modern day M along the railroad tracks until he reaches the Fox River.
Eventually, he turns onto another road modern day M He travels north for a few miles, until he eventually finds a suitable place for camp near the Fox River. The next few days are spent fishing, and Nick is clearly elated to be in nature. When they reached Seney, they walked the one hundred or so yards until they reached the Fox River, like Nick.
Following an unused set of railroad tracks north, camp was eventually set on the east bank of the Fox, like Nick. The emotional investment in something that makes him happy that he ultimately can't connect with again at this point in his recovery is a sickening disappointment to him, especially because it's his fault. However, after the jarring experience of war, Nick must expect to "lose a few" at first during his journey into his own river of recovery.
After he rests and smokes, Nick rebaits, and this time, upon reentering the river, he works his rod carefully. He catches a good-sized trout, and note that he says that it was "good" to hold — he had "one good trout. The fish dives into heavy underbrush. Almost immediately, Nick has another strike, and after some struggling, he brings this trout into his net.
Nick then spreads the "mouth of the sack and [looks] down at the two big trout alive in the water. After Nick eats his sandwiches, he sits and watches the river; then he kills and dresses the two trout. Both are males because each is exuding "milt," a substance found only in male fish. Nick returns to camp completely satisfied and looks forward to the days to come when he will fish the swampy areas, as he steadily moved downstream into deeper water today.
Nick's steady progress downstream into deeper water leads him to reach a point in the river that intersects the present moment: His wish for something to read. This return to thinking and cerebral pursuits indicates a mental rejuvenation. It isn't a total rejuvenation, because Nick has yet to fish in the swamp, but it is a rejuvenation that indicates to the reader that Nick's recovery is well underway. Another signpost of Nick's progress in recovery is his emotional reaction to swamp fishing.
The swamp is a deep, dark place at the end of the river covered by cedar branches. It is a dangerous place to fish because of the muck on the bottom and the fast, deep water that sometimes has whirlpools that take anything in the water down with it.
It is here that the really big trout seek the shade and cool water, and it is here that Nick reacts to it: first, by concluding that he won't do it just yet, and second, that it is "tragic," which is an emotionally charged description.
The swamp can be seen as the dark, sooty place in Nick's subconscious where the war and all of the bad memories from it reside. So WWI was a very, very recent memory for everyone, and it was pretty devastating, as far as devastating things go.
Hemingway himself experienced WWI firsthand as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross, so he knew what he was talking about. Parents Home Homeschool College Resources. Study Guide. By Ernest Hemingway. Previous Next. Setting Up in Michigan Hemingway gives us enough information to pinpoint where this story takes place—except then he throws us off with the title.
Seney looks like a dragon sneezed on it: Seney was burned, the country was burned over and changed, but it did not matter.
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