Compare And Contrast The Bass And Sheila Mant

Have you ever had a nasty break up? Felt abandoned or threatened as you yourself have lost love? Within love, however you may define it, you devote actions and emotions to a sole person and for feelings to dissipate over a long period of time or for love to be cut off suddenly can hurt, and sometimes love itself can feel useless. The immediate aftershock of heartbreak, from family or otherwise, can either leave you bitter or wiser. The phrase “It is better to have loved and lost to have never loved at all” touches on this subject and I firmly believe it has truth, power, and strength. Within accepting this fact one needs to reflect on the past with truth. In the poem “In Memoriam” Alfred Lord Tennyson speaks about the stages one would go through when losing someone but learning to keep going, looking back on it as a learning experience and a way
However, in accordance to the short story “The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant”, written by W. D. Wetherell, the main character reflects at the end of the narration about how he feels. He continues to say, “There would be other Sheila Mants in my life, other fish, and I thought I came close once or twice, it was these secret, hidden tuggings in the night that claimed me, and I never made the same mistake again.” (Wetherell 4) Within the context of the story another saying comes into light, “There are plenty of fish in the sea”. With the symbolism of the “tugging” referencing the tug he felt on the fishing line, the main character of this particular story learns through his interactions with Sheila Mant, the girl he loves, to stay true to himself and realize when love is one sided, as is the case, and look back on the memory as a learning experience instead of grief ridden time