While reading through the assigned readings, I found that I didn't really connect with any of them besides the songs. Even in the songs, I found that I mainly liked "the River". I liked how he made himself really embody the person that he was as the speaker. I think it was pretty clear what he was discussing throughout the song but, due to the assignment, I will give the interpretation I thought of for the song.
It starts out with the background where he meets Mary at seventeen years old. When he gets to the part about he and Mary jumping into the river, it definitely could be a straight-forward thing. Yet, if you look at it in a symbolic sense, the river could also be life in general. He and Mary got together and dove right into life by having sex. By doing this, they get swept up in the river of life and have to get married to make themselves, or their parents, feel better about the pregnancy. The wedding was so spur of the moment that it was done at a courthouse and may have even been an eloping between the two. No one came and there were no decorations. Again, the author makes reference to diving into the river and going for a ride on it which again shows the river of life symbol. To support the baby and his new wife, the speaker tries to get a job which is very difficult to do due to the flood that the book mentions as a historical flood in the area the song takes place in. Things that the speaker found important like maybe school, how cool he was, and other things are now unimportant on this "ride down the river" due to his new wife and child. At the very end of the poem, the speaker remembers how things used to be and admits to how much he misses them when he says the memories haunt him. The river of life that he once found so fun has dried up and he isn't going anywhere. The last line seems like he is reflecting on how much fun life used to be and how he and Mary would "ride the river" all the time but now, life is dry of its adventure, fun, and excitement. A very sad story if I do say so myself.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I thought it was sad too. When I read it though, I got a straight forward story also, so I'm glad I'm not alone if I missed something. :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you 100%! I really liked this one. I'm not sure if you are familiar with the song Red Rag Top by Tim McGraw, but it reminded me of that song. They were young and faced with a child, she ended up having a abortion though, because they knew their lives would end up like in this poem...dry. I liked your analysis!
ReplyDeleteI also did my analysis on the river and I agree that river is definatly a symbol of life's ride. I also thought that maybe it was about the passion he and mary shared together. This passion that they jumped right into was great and fun but then consequences happened and now he is all swept up into the river of life. At the end where the memories haunt him it shows that he might not get this passion back ever especially when he gives the line "The river is dry"
ReplyDeleteHow working-class life wears people out is one of the major themes of Bruce Springsteen's work. The way people start out as fun-loving kids that get used up by working 20 years at the factory and raising kids they weren't prepared for shows up in several of his other songs. It's angry as much as it is sad, because it sort of makes the idea of the American dream ring hollow. "Is a dream a lie if it don't come true/ or is it something worse?"
ReplyDelete