Trout Fishing in America: Analysis of Major Characters
"Trout Fishing in America" is a unique literary work that blends elements of autobiographical narrative, surrealism, and social commentary. The unnamed narrator, potentially aligned with the author, explores themes of isolation and nostalgia stemming from a fatherless childhood spent in poverty across various American locales. His spiritual connection to nature is reflected in the trout streams and lakes that populate his memories, symbolizing both beauty and disillusionment as he confronts the contrast between idealism and reality.
Key figures in the narrator's life include his unnamed wife, who primarily fulfills domestic roles, and their daughter, referred to simply as "the baby," whose growth signifies the passage of time. The titular "Trout Fishing in America" serves as a personification representing an idealized vision of America, while "Trout Fishing in America Shorty," a legless wino, embodies the struggles of marginalized individuals. Additionally, the recurring statue of Benjamin Franklin in San Francisco serves as a cultural landmark and a symbol of community, encapsulating the spirit of the era. Overall, the characters contribute to a rich tapestry that invites readers to reflect on the complexities of American life and personal identity.
Trout Fishing in America: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Richard Brautigan
First published: 1967
Genre: Novel
Locale: San Francisco, California; various trout streams; and elsewhere in the Northwest
Plot: Picaresque
Time: Fall, 1960, through fall, 1961, with flashbacks to the 1940's
The narrator, who is unnamed though possibly identified with the author, because he is a writer and has had similar life experiences; that is, he had a fatherless, rather lonely childhood, living in poverty with his mother first in Great Falls, Montana, then later in Portland, Oregon, and Tacoma, Washington. In his late teens, he moves to San Francisco, which becomes the center of his life as a writer. A more spiritual element is provided by certain trout streams and lakes in the mountains to the north and east, such as Grider Creek, Graveyard Creek, Paradise Creek, Lake Josephus, and Hell-Diver Lake. The narrator tends to describe the people and settings in his brief collection of sketches with an inventive, sometimes even magical poetic surrealism. For example, the narrator recalls having seen, as a child, a distant, beautiful waterfall. As he draws closer to it, however, he sees that his vision was only a flight of white wooden stairs leading into some trees. Such disillusionment is an important element in the narrator's worldview. He continually seeks escape from reality yet retains the integrity to be able to admit to doing so.
The narrator's wife, who is unnamed but usually referred to as “my woman” or “the woman I live with.” She corresponds to the author's wife of this period (that is, his first wife), Virginia “Ginny” Adler. Little of the woman's personality is revealed. Her role is simply to cook, have sexual intercourse, conceive and bear a child, and tend it as it grows. Once, the narrator and his wife have sexual intercourse in the warm water of Worsewick Hot Springs, in the midst of green slime and dead fish. This is a typical juxtaposition by the narrator of the beautiful and the profane (or of life and death).
The narrator's daughter, an unnamed child called only “the baby.” She corresponds to the author's daughter, Ianthe, born in 1960. The child, as she grows older, affords a perception of the passage of time.
Trout Fishing in America, a personification that talks and writes but has no corporeal existence. The figure sometimes evokes the distant past, such as the time of the American Revolution, or the day that Meriwether Lewis discovered Great Falls. It acts on the whole as a positive or even romantic vision of America.
Trout Fishing in America Shorty, a legless wino in San Francisco who demands even of strangers that they push him everywhere in his wheelchair. Once, he falls face first, drunk, right out of his chair. The narrator and his acquaintances decide to mail him to Nelson Algren, in honor of the latter's character “Railroad Shorty.” He disappears, however, before they can get around to doing this.
Statue of Benjamin Franklin, a statue in Washington Square, San Francisco. This statue is mentioned frequently throughout the book, beginning in the first chapter, in which it is the central figure. In addition, it is an important feature of the cover photograph. It is presented as a symbol of welcome. Beatniks and hippies sit before it and drink port wine.