A River Runs Through It

For Norman Maclean, peace is found in nature, and the natural world represents a haven from the threats posed by human frailty and evil. In the Maclean family, there is no strict separation between religion and nature. Nature is an expression of perfection and the oneness of all creation.

In many scenes, Norman explains how he loses his worries and troubles while fishing and finds peace. He becomes one with nature. Norman seems to enjoy the peace he finds sitting on the bank after he finishes fishing, or talking with his father or brother on the riverbank, nearly as much as he enjoys the act of fishing itself.

Norman is not the only Maclean to experience this peaceful union with nature: his father brings a book to read while he is waiting for his sons to finish fishing on their last fishing trip together. Of this book, the Bible, Rev. Maclean says, “‘In the part I was reading it says the Word was in the beginning, and that’s right. I used to think water was first, but if you listen carefully you will hear what the words are underneath the water’” (95). According to Rev. Maclean, all of creation is united with the water, and the river symbolizes the natural world.