Character of the Story

Character of the Story

In this context we come across a character who claims to be the best swimmer who could swim in the huge rivers. In order to prove this to his neighbors, he goes to the river to swim. The character is well known to his neighbors by the name Ned. Ned always considered himself as immortal and more powerful compared to his neighbors. Initially the character is welcomed by his neighbors who approach him with a very welcoming heart. He talks about swimming in river Lucinda and boasts that he is the best swimmer. The character’s wife is Lucinda. Ned claims to swim half the length of Lucinda River. Being so youthful, Ned decides to take an adventure far away from home. He leaves his family and friends and walks alone to a place he could not tell.

Ned and his neighbors engage in alcohol drinking so that they could forget all their troubles. It was away of fighting away the stress that was loaded in their mind. Ned liked staying away from his community members and this contrasts him from another character by the name Beowulf. The character is much different from Ned because he used to participate in all community activities. Together with this, He liked joining other warriors in war if they needed him. Ned is seen to keep far from the rest of the community and this makes the members of the community question his characters.

As Ned walks along the way he meets a young woman who she had dumped in a restaurant in New York. In the whole film, Ned dresses in swimming trunks. At the public pool, the character meets some people who he owed money. Ned is liked in spite of the emerging truth and the money he owed his creditors. Another character of Ned is that he is full of sympathy. Ned is regarded as a reckless man because he has little financial attention to his family and often described as ignorant. The character is able to hide his negative characters from his neighbors.

As the story unfolds, we get to know more about the characters of Ned as he interacts with his neighbors. Ned is unable to comprehend things in his mind because of the worries going through his mind. He is unable to comprehend the reality of his misfortunes which he encounters from time to time. The character keeps away from the other members of the community and this helps him hide his negative characters. Along the way, Ned acts politely as he meets with the other members of the community. This makes it hard for the rest of his friends to learn his behaviors. Ned tries best he could to avoid the interactions with his neighbors. Ned struggles to live a secluded life from the rest of the community and this is seen when he leaves the community for an adventure. As Ned walks his mind seems to have faded and he remembers nothing. In the same way the character is seen to be very loaded in his thoughts and many things are troubling his mind. The people along the way start questioning his characters because he had been away for long. 

Ned keeps away from the community and his family for quite some time until his whereabouts is questioned by the members of his community. The members of his community question his deeds for the time he was away from them and his family. When Ned returns he seems to have lost memory of the things taking place in the community and he decides to do thing s his own way. According to Ned, keeping away was a privilege to him because he did not like mixing with the rest of the community. The people say that Ned is choosing to forget some things which did not bother much to him. This is described by the people he interacts with on the day he returns home. Ned is also puzzled by the way things have changed in the community having been away for a long time. He had kept away from his wife and the daughters. The community described Ned as someone who cared less about his family.

Alcohol is used to describe the many problems that Ned was going through and being a drunkard was a way of relieving the stress in his mind. Being so youthful Ned with other members of his community is known to be drunkards whom they also take as a pleasant. What trouble him are the miseries that caused him to part with his wife and daughters. The character seems to have lost the taste for life and decides to live a secluded life.

In conclusion, use of metaphor in a story helps bring out the intended message in the story. Characters in a story play their roles in ensuring that the story flows and the message given correctly. River Lucinda river which has been named as Ned’s wife, can be seen as a metaphor in this story and friends of all kinds surrounds him. Towards the end, Ned could not tell why miserable things were happening in his life. He decides to lead a reckless life because all things seem to have gone into a mess.