So Much Water So Close to Home

“My husband eats with a good attitude. But I don’t think he’s really hungry.”

The story’s opening sentences characterize Stuart as contradictory, though they apply to Claire as well. Both characters carry out the expected actions associated with marriage and domestic life—eating meals, having sex—but these acts are void of meaning and fulfillment. This line also establishes the theme of The Pervasiveness of Doubt and Deception. Specifically, it underscores the deception Claire senses on Stuart’s part: She feels his persona is not authentic.

“One of the men—my Stuart didn’t say which—said they should start back at once. The others stirred the sand with their shoes, said they didn’t feel inclined that way. They pleaded fatigue, the late hour, the fact that the girl wasn’t going anywhere”

The men’s apathy is visible in the way they “stir the sand,” almost absentmindedly. They view the presence of the dead woman as both an inconvenience and an intrusion on their fun, but not as a cause for alarm, highlighting Gender Norms’ Harmful Effects on Women.

“Gordon Johnson said the trout they’d caught were hard because of the terrible coldness of the water.”

While the river water is cold on a literal level, its temperature also symbolizes danger and death. The “terrible coldness” is something Claire has come to associate with rivers due to the murdered woman of her childhood. The men’s dissatisfaction with the fish’s “hardness” suggests that the discovery of the woman’s body has “spoiled” what would have otherwise been a fun-filled trip.