What is the conflict in "The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant"?

At one level, the central conflict in W.D. Wetherell’s short story “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant” seems to be between the narrator’s longing for Sheila and his longing for the bass. However, I think Sheila and the bass—a species of fish—are actually stand-ins for two aspects of the narrator’s nature and his choice between the two is critical for the development of his self. If we look closely at the way Sheila is described, we get a clue into what really attracts the narrator to her: her beauty and poise, of course, but also her popularity and her family’s social status.

There was a summer in my life when the only creature that seemed lovelier to me than a largemouth bass was Sheila Mant. I was fourteen. The Mants had rented the cottage next to ours on the river; with their parties, their frantic games of softball, their constant comings and goings, they appeared to me denizens of a brilliant existence.

The fact that Sheila is courted by older boys and sportsmen, the entire “Dartmouth heavyweight crew,” adds to her appeal. Because Sheila is such a rare commodity, the narrator too covets her. In this, Sheila represents the part of the narrator’s nature that is easily seduced by the superficial and the glitzy. It is important to note that his crush on Sheila is not based on who Sheila is as a person.

On the other hand, fishing is a great passion for the narrator, an activity he is perfectly happy doing in solitude. He doesn’t need an audience for fishing; thus, like reading or hiking often is for other people, this is an activity arising from his deeper nature.

Automatically, without thinking about it, I mounted my Mitchell reel on my Pfleuger spinning rod and stuck it in the stern. I say automatically, because I never went anywhere that summer without a fishing rod.

From these lines we can see that the narrator almost feels incomplete without his fishing rod. Thus, fishing, the river, and the bass represent the more authentic, less self-conscious aspect of the narrator’s nature. The clash between the two aspects of his nature is comically highlighted when he actually manages to get Sheila—the object of his affection—out for a date in his canoe. While Sheila is talking to him, his attention is entirely on the bass he has accidentally pulled in and on trying to keep Sheila from discovering this. Earlier, Sheila has emphatically confessed she thinks fishing is “dumb,” which make sit even more urgent for him to conceal the hooked bass from her. But like the narrator’s subconscious, the bass makes its presence felt.

Downstream, an awesome distance downstream, it jumped clear of the water, landing with a concussion heavy enough to ripple the entire river. For a moment, I thought it was gone, but then the rod was bending again, the tip dancing into the water. Slowly, not making any motion that might alert Sheila, I reached down to tighten the drag.

The narrator’s frequent use of fishing words such as “drag” and “tugging” also embody the push-pull he feels between Sheila and the bass. Similarly, much as the “fish” is lured to the bait, the narrator too is lured by the glitter of all that Sheila represents. It is also interesting to see how the bits of conversation the narrator recalls with Sheila paint her as a self-absorbed and vain person. This could have little to do with Sheila herself and more to do with the little interest the narrator discovers in her company and his distracted state of mind.

I have to be careful with my complexion. I tan, but in segments. I can’t figure out if it’s even worth it. I wouldn’t even do it probably. I saw Jackie Kennedy in Boston, and she wasn’t tan at all.

Sheila’s empty words above are in contrast to how the narrator sees he physicality, “her lithe figure” and “the proud tilt of her shoulders.” Again, we see the narrator judge Sheila less by her personal qualities and more by her appearance.

When he finally cuts the line and lets the fish go, the effort it costs him is almost spiritual, as if he is amputating his soul. Although he doesn’t know it himself quite yet, the reader understand Sheila is already lost to him. We know the narrator’s enjoyment in the evening is ruined even before it begins; so much so that when Sheila decides to go home in Eric Caswell’s Corvette, all he can mumble is an indifferent okay.

Wetherell resolves the narrator’s psychological conflict with a neat lesson, with the narrator declaring that “he never made the same mistake again.” The mistake wasn’t about Sheila or the bass but about not listening to his heart and pretending to be someone other than he is. He now understands that he has to choose his deeper self over artificial glamour or the social pressure of seeming cool. Another lesson he learns is to value people by more than their appearance. Thus, as a young 14-year-old, he learns important, foundational lessons in self-hood.

What is the conflict in "The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant"?

W. D. Weatherell's short story "The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant" is about a fourteen-year-old boy who develops a crush on a seventeen-year-old girl named Sheila Mant. 

Sheila is clearly out of his league. She is older, beautiful, and has captured the attention of an Ivy League rowing team. This causes an internal conflict on the part of the narrator. Should he ask her out? Here's how he describes his feelings about that conflict:

It was late August by the time I got up the nerve to ask her out. The tortured will-I's, won't I's, the agonized indecision over what to say, the false starts toward her house and the embarrassed retreats--the details of these have been seared from my memory.

Another internal conflict develops later as the narrator must choose between Sheila and the magnificent bass he secretly caught while on the date. He chooses Sheila, a decision he will soon regret.

You would expect to see an external conflict between Sheila and the narrator, since their date wasn't particularly successful. But Weatherell isn't as interested in the conflict between them as he is in the conflict that takes place inside the narrator. When Sheila goes home with another guy in his Corvette, the narrator doesn't object.

Weatherell resolves the internal conflict in the story's final paragraph, as the narrator comes to a personal realization:

Before the month was over, the spell she cast over me was gone, but the memory of that lost bass haunted me all summer and haunts me still. There would be other Sheila Mants in my life, other fish, and though 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.

What is the rising action in "The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant"?

The rising action of the story begins when Sheila agrees to go with the narrator on his canoe to Dixford. He knows that this is his golden opportunity to impress her. Quite meticulously, he spends a day rubbing and polishing his canoe “until it gleamed as bright as aluminum ever gleamed.”

The actual suspense, however, begins to build up as soon as a huge bass gets hooked to the narrator’s fishing rod. This happens when he is already out on a date with Sheila. Only a few moments ago, he heard her contemptuous and dismissive remarks about fishing: she loathes his favorite pastime activity.

The rod has bent double, in all probability, by the weight of the big bass. The narrator doesn’t want to lose it as it’s going to be his biggest catch ever. But Sheila is on the boat, and at no point can she know about the catch, as “at that fragile moment,” he can’t just do anything that might vex her.

The author of the story, W. D. Wetherell, illustrates the narrator’s dilemma beautifully. The fourteen-year-old narrator puts to use all his might and skills not to lose the enormous bass. Overcoming all the hurdles, he manages to cling to it until they’re almost at Dixford.

Meanwhile, he keeps Sheila engaged in the conversation. While she continues talking about herself, he doesn’t give her the slightest hint that he’s tugging a giant bass.

All these events comprise the rising action of the story.

In this way, the narration beautifully sways between the fourteen-year-old narrator’s struggle to hold on to the giant fish and his efforts to make an impression on Sheila. Finally, the story reaches its peak with the arrival of the moment when he has to make a final choice between his biggest catch and the beautiful Sheila.

What is the rising action in "The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant"?

In order to figure out what the falling action is, it is helpful to identify the story's main conflict and climax. While it is tempting to suggest that the conflict is between the story's narrator and nature, in the form of the bass, it is actually the narrator vs. himself. Knowing how much Sheila Mant hates fishing, how "dumb" she thinks it is, he is completely torn between reeling in the giant bass and ignoring it in order not to betray a love of something she thinks is stupid. He says that it "seemed [he] would be torn apart between longings, split in half." It is his own conflict—between wanting Sheila and the bass—that helps us to understand that the climax is when he "pulled a penknife from [his] pocket and cut the line in half," choosing his longing for Sheila over the fish.

Thus, the falling action consists of his immediate sense of regret: he feels "sick" and "nauseous" when he sees his fishing rod straighten, relieved of its tension. He barely remembers the rest of the night. Sheila whines about her tired legs, she and the narrator go to the fair, and she eventually tells him she's going home with another guy. She tells him that he's a "funny kid," and, in the story's resolution, he reflects on how many people have said something similar to him in the years since and how he "never made the same mistake again" of choosing to please a girl over "these secret, hidden tuggings in the night."

How does the title "The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant" suggest the narrator's conflicts?

Sheila is a large part of the narrator's external conflict. Sheila doesn't like the water and she doesn't like fishing. The narrator loves both. He knows that engaging in his favorite hobby—fishing—won't make her happy and will end their budding relationship. Sheila and the narrator both want different things, and their desires clash in the story.

The narrator's internal conflict is his desire to fish and catch the beautiful bass he sees in the river. He knows he may never again get a chance at such a perfect fish. However, his desire to catch it fights with his desire to please Sheila. None of this is spoken to the object of his desire. He tries to focus on her boring, self-centered conversation while his mind is pulled to the bass again and again.

The river operates as a setting for his internal and external conflict. The river is what he has to navigate to get her to the party; it also makes it more difficult for him to successfully fulfill his objective with regards to his primary external conflict: pleasing Sheila. If they'd taken a car, the conflicts the narrator struggles with wouldn't have occurred.

What type of character is Sheila and how does it create conflicts for the narrator in The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant?

Sheila Mant has a very shallow character.  The narrator first sees her at the river, where she is sunning herself and looking down upon everyone else.  Even though he recognizes this, he still has a desperate need to impress her by doing his best dives until she leaves.  It takes him quite a while to even ask her out, and when he picks her up in his boat, she is not impressed.

It is at this point that the reader starts to see that there is a conflict between the personality of the narrator and that of Sheila.  The narrator loves his boat, loves nature, and loves fishing.  Sheila thinks the boat is a stupid idea, and her opinion of fishing is: “I think fishing’s dumb.  I mean, it’s boring and all.  Definitely dumb.”  In fact, Sheila has no idea this is even a date.

When the narrator gets a bite on his line, the back and forth between the description of his trying to catch the fish and Sheila’s conversation is very revealing.  To the narrator, the fight with the fish is a battle royal.  He is thinking about his every move and considering what the fish will do next.  Sheila is so busy talking about herself and modeling and college that she does not even realize he has a fish on the line. 

The poor narrator has to choose between revealing to her that he is catching a fish while on their date or letting the fish go.  He lets the fish go, but not without some thought.  It is quite obvious that he is conflicted:  do I stay with the girl or win the battle with the fish?  Ironically, once he lets the fish go, Sheila, having used him as a ride, goes and finds other boys to talk to.