Jenny V

Miss Transue

English 5/7

24 October 2011

Which Would You Choose?

            An unforgettable fish. A gorgeous girl. Many times in life we have a hard time deciding “which one”. Sometimes we make the right decision and other times we feel we have made the wrong decision and regret our decisions. I recently read the story “The Bass, the River and Shelia Mant”. In the short story by W.D Wetherall the narrator makes a bad decision by choosing a girl he had a crush on over an unforgettable fish.

            Shelia Mant is a self centered prep and the narrator deserved better than her. Shelia Mant is a self-centered prep because when they were in the row boat on their date there was an extra paddle but she didn’t bother to notice it. Shelia made the narrator do all of the paddling in the row boat and cared about herself only. Also the narrator deserves better than Shelia Mant because she left him in the end anyways. In the end of the story Shelia danced with the narrator for a couple of dances but then she told him she was leaving with Eric Caswell. Another reason that Shelia Mants stereotype could be a prep is because she talked about herself only. In the story it says “There was an extra paddle in the bow, but Shelia made no move to pick it up.” Shelia would rather do something for herself than anyone else’s.

            Some people may think that the narrator made a good decision by choosing the girl over the fish. They may think this because at least she took the time out of her life to give the narrator a chance and go out on a date with him. Also while they were on the date she also dances with the narrator a couple of times. Although Shelia Mant did take the time to go on a date with him and took the time to dance with him on the date she didn’t do it for him. Shelia Mant went on the date for herself not for him. The whole time while they were on the date she talked about herself. Although there is reasons that the narrator made a good decision about choosing the girl over the fish there are more on why it was a bad decision.

            In the end the narrator realized just like there are other fish in the sea there would be other Shelia Mants in his life but none like the one he almost had. The narrator also realized that although there would be many girls like Shelia Mant in his life he would never get the chance to catch a fish like the one that he had almost caught with Shelia. Also Shelia left the narrator in the end anyways and the narrator realized that he deserved better than her. In the short story it says “but the memory of that loss bass haunted me all summer and haunts me still.” The narrator made a bad decision because he knew there would never be a fish like the one he saw that day.

            Now think of a time you’ve made a decision you regret making. Think of a time you’ve made a decision you don’t regret making. Shelia Mant was a prep and the narrator deserved better. The narrator also realized that in the end she left him in the end. The narrator made a bad decision by choosing the girl over the big bass.

 

 

 

 

 

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