Reading Resonse Journal

Reading Journal: A River Runs Through It
Jen Quan

Journal 001: March 11th 2009
Quote #1: “In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing”
Quote #2: “Although Paul was three years younger than I was, he was already far ahead of me in anything relating to fishing..”

I have two sisters and a little baby brother. I don’t mean to brag or anything, but I’m almost better at everything artistic than my older sister. I find that maybe Paul at first was trying to hard to live up to his older brother that in the end he was better and didn’t need to feel better anymore because he brother didn’t care. It’s the same thing for me. When I was younger it seemed that my older sister was good at everything she did. I tried so hard to live up to her and find something I was good at and when I was finally better at her at something (art, being artistic) I realized that she didn’t care about beating me at something. I’m sure she’s proud at me for being better at something, but she will always be older than me and better at everything then me and now, finally, I accept that.

[No questions so far... :) ]

Journal 002: March 11th 2009
Quote #1: “She was a beautiful dancer as he was a fly caster”
Quote #2: “It is like a rattlesnake striking, with a good piece of his tail on the ground as something to strike from.”
Quote #3: “At sunrise everything is luminous but not clear”

Norman had to get up in the middle of the night to pick his brother and his brother’s girl from jail. Norman is like the person who picks up the mess that his brother leaves. I guess I could say that I can relate to both Paul and Norman. With Norman, I can say that I am sometimes left to deal with the mess that other people create. When I was reading the part where Norman picks up Paul and Paul’s Native American girl that I found it very coincidental because this reminds me-- and in a very exact way-- of my everyday life. I guess I could also say that I related to Paul because I usually leave a mess behind me as well, metaphorically...

What is the Indian girl’s real name? Because Norma gave her a name but it’s not her birth name...

Journal 003: March 13th 2009
Quote #1: ““Brother,” he would say, “there are no flying fish in Montana. Out here, you can’t catch fish with your flies in the air.””
Quote #2: “His flies were in the water at least twenty percent more of the time than mine”

At the part when the weather changed and many fish started jumping I can relate to how when the weather changed, someone else happens, especially my mood. There are many people out there that love it when it rains. I hate it. I hate being wet and when the sky is dark. I hate it when it’s snowing really hard too. I only like light flutters. For me, snow is frozen rain and rain is wet and I don’t like to be wet. When it rains or there’s a blizzard my mood changes almost immediately from content to sad and moody. Just like the fish suddenly jump out of the water when the weather changes, so does my mood.

Why is fly fishing so important to everyone?

Journal 004: March 16th 2009
Quote #1: “That's one trouble with hanging around a master–you pick up some of his stuff, like how to cast into a bush, but you use it just when the master is doing the opposite”
Quote #2: “In death it had its pattern, and we can only hope for as much”

The two brothers had buried their beer bottles in the stream to keep cool but couldn't find it later. I find this a connection to my life because I always live thing behind me. Not necessarily objects but ideas and feelings. Later on when I come back to them, I can't feel them again because I've lost it and have forgotten how it's like to have that emotion. I would resort to just having a feeling that is like the feeling I lost but it would never be the same. Just like the brothers having to drink stream water instead of beer to quench their thirst, anyone would have wanted the beer instead.

[Questions]


Journal 005: March 17th 2009
Quote #1: “It's like the auto-supply shop over town where they always say, 'Sorry, we just out of that part'”
Quote #2: “Whenever we had a family reunion, Mother and Paul were always the central attention”

Most of the school knows that my older sister had relationship problems. Most of the time when she cries, it's weird because she doesn't like me comforting her, yet allows my best friend to do it. It's like my best friends are more closer to my sister than I am. Just like my first quote, my sister doesn't accept help from me. Later, my friends would ask me, accusingly, why I'm not helping and comforting my sister. My friend and her sister and close and both sisters accept help from each other.
I guess my sister's ashamed of me because I'm not ashamed of myself. I'm not afraid of what people think of me because it's always my life to live. I want to live my last few months of freedom in this school with fun and with my friends- not sulking around because I'm moving. I guess you could say that I'm immature, but I don't want to be mature all the time because before long, you realize that you missed you chance of being a kid. I want to be a kid until I'm 27 because after that, life really starts calling you.

I would want to give help to my sister, but if she doesn't want it, and I shouldn't waste my time.

How can someone get burned from head to toe when they're wearing clothes?