For a Little While by Rick Bass

Karen, a twenty-six-year-old woman, is the protagonist of the story Wild Horses. She had been engaged twice and married once in her life. Six months after their marriage, her first husband left her for another woman. The second one, Henry, drowned in the Mississippi one day before their scheduled wedding (Bass, 97). The tale introduces another character named Sydney Bean. He was Henry's closest mate, and he was with him as he jumped into the water. Sydney visited Karen on her farm after the incident and he would allow her to hit him to let her anger go away for a while. Sydney had a guilty conscience that told him he would have saved Henry by grabbing him before he dived. Karen’s neighbor old Dr. Lynly was a vet and lived with an Airedale called Buster. He needed a helper and through the help of Sydney, Karen was given the job.

In the rest of the story, Bass narrates about how Karen and Sydney went back to the river where Henry dived and died, pushing a calf over at the same place (Bass, 101). He tells about the wild mules and horses that Sydney tried to break in his farm. Some of them were very wild and ended up injuring his legs and bones. Bass tells of a mule that was treated by Dr. Lynly and Karen. The owners still used it to carry logs despite the fact that it had a wounded and swollen knee. As the story progresses, we see that Karen slowly got over her loss of Henry till she stopped having the need to hit Sydney. At the end of the story, Bass tells of a Clydesdale yearling that Karen purchased to replace the mule.

In Ruth’s Country

The story In Ruth’s Country is the second short story in Rick Bass’s book. The first part of the story gives a description of Utah state. The persona describes the state as the most beautiful. Some of the illustrations given to show the beauty of the state include the cool and blue forests and mountains in the north and the red and hot deserts in the south. More descriptions of the state are given in terms of its climatic conditions. During summers in southern Utah, there are thunderstorms and flashes of lightning at night. According to the persona, there were flash floods in the desert which caused the water to be muddy and frothy. A notable feature of the state is that it is a tourist destination. The persona says that as tourists made their way to the national parks, they passed through their town (Bass, 23).

In the story, Bass clearly brings out the culture of the Mormons who were found in Utah state. The first paragraph is about how a person can be so that they can date a Mormon girl. The rules include not taking coffee, not having long hair, no use of curse words and only one kiss (Bass, 22). According to the persona of the story, the rules were simple and anyone could observe them and manage to date a Mormon girl. Another striking aspect of the Mormon culture according to the story is that Mormons could not date people who were not Mormons. The reason given for this is that their values were different. The elders of Moab used silly passwords, corny handshakes and secret meeting rooms.

Later in the story, Bass narrates about a Mormon girl known as Ruth. The persona liked her and wanted to know more about her. She appeared different to the persona who loved the way she watched things. She would look at the sky, the tourists and at times the persona. The persona found it hard to believe that Ruth could just look at him directly for a long time and think. He concluded that probably, she was crazy or just slightly out of her mind. In the story, a description of cattle is clearly given. The persona and his uncle Mike used to run cattle in a sage for a living (Bass, 24). In talking about the cattle, the author gives more vivid descriptions of the state. The persona explains how the country in which they ran the cattle had a massive space such that there was no need for fences. From the description readers can find out that there was an old beaver dam in the area when the persona says that the cattle would be down along a salt creek in a willow flat or grazing in a dry field behind the dam (Bass, 24). Some of the areas were rocky and the rocks hid mesas and plateaus.

Redfish

Redfish is the third story in Rick Bass’s book. The story is about two people, the persona and Kirby who go away for a fishing expedition so that Kirby can get some time away from his wife Tricia. Kirby had gotten into an argument with Tricia because he had forgotten to feed the dogs on a Saturday when he had the day off from work (Bass, 183-184). Both of them worked in banks, different banks but Tricia had to work on that Saturday while Kirby had the day off. Tricia got mad at him when she found out that he had not fed them making him to feed his dog leaving out hers. This infuriated Tricia the more and led to a fight about how Kirby’s German Shepherd fed ten times more than her Cocker spaniel.

The setting of the story is a beach at the Gulf Coast in Galveston where Kirby and the persona drank Cuba Libres which were made from rum, lime juice and diet coke while fishing. Their main target was to fish redfish which they planned to bait with live shrimp. It was the first time they wanted to catch redfish and with the supply of Cuba Libres that they kept drinking, they felt that the night was exciting. At some point in the story, Kirby gets really drunk and starts talking about unrealistic things like throwing grenades into the waves to stun the fish (Bass, 186). Even in his drunk state, Kirby still talks about Tricia and goes on to suggest that they should take a picture and send it her; much to the astonishment of the persona.

In the story, Bass brings out the theme of conflict using Kirby and Tricia as the characters. Kirby creates a physical distance between them by going out at night with the persona of the story but Tricia still remains in his mind. The persona reads through his lines and actions and realizes that Kirby is thinking about Tricia despite the effort of getting away from her for a while. The persona makes a move and uses a payphone where he disguises his voice and pretends to be Kirby. The message he passes to her is that he loves her. In his mind, Tricia will believe that it is Kirby who said the words to her.

























Bibliography

Bass, Rick. For a Little While. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2016. Print.









































Summary

A thing that can be noted in the work of Rick Bass is the use of vivid description in his stories. In the three stories, he describes places, situations, animals or people giving descriptions that can make the reader visualize whatever he is talking about. In literature, vivid descriptions are used to help a reader create a mental picture of what is being addressed and it helps them relate with characters or the flow of the story. Landscapes, animals, situations, places and people are described in detail in each of the stories.

Another aspect that a reader cannot overlook in the work of Rick Bass is the fact that he uses animals a lot in his stories. In the three stories used in this paper, he uses different animals and goes ahead to describe them and their behavior. In the first story Wild horses, he talks about the horses and mules that Sydney tried to break in his farm. Just like the title of the story, the mules and horses were wild and some ended up injuring his legs and bones until at one point he had to take a break from the farm. Another mule that was treated by Karen and Dr. Lynly is also seen in the story. Most scenes in this short story involve different animals besides the mules and horses; they include cattle and an Airedale owned by the vet. In the short story In Ruth’s Country, Bass brings in cattle which are described in detail. They are described as being about the same size. Their movements are described as being mostly whimsical. The areas where they graze are also described very well. The story Redfish gets its title from the red fish that its characters went to fish on their night out. Other animals in the story are the dogs owned by Kirby and Tricia as well as other animals in the water.

Rick Bass uses creativity in his stories. In the scenes brought out in the stories, the imagination of the reader is enhanced. Characters are allowed to express their feelings. In Wild Horses, the feelings of Karen who is a character in the story are described. She is annoyed when her first man takes off with another woman six months into their marriage. The death of Henry, her second man a day before they are set to get married deeply disturbs and affects her. She feels that the death could have been stopped by Sydney and spends time depressed as to why it had to be Henry. Her feelings of love for Henry can also be felt by the reader because of the long time she spent to get over her feeling of sadness. We see her feelings of anger over Henry’s death when she hits Sydney until he starts bleeding from his nose and her hands get worn out. In Redfish, the feelings of Kirby’s love for Tricia are brought out by the author. He goes out fishing at night with the persona of the story to get away from Tricia but he keeps on talking about her and suggests that they take pictures and send them to her. Tricia had anger feelings towards Kirby for forgetting to feed the dogs during his day off (Bass,184). In In Ruth’s Country, the persona has feelings of like towards a girl known as Ruth.



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