For Friday: Payseur, “Rivers Run Free” (pp.1-12)


I FOUND A LINK TO THE STORY: http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/rivers-run-free/

NOTE: I accidentally named the groups A & B in my 11:00 Comp class, though they are "SF" and "F" on the syllabus. So A = SF, and B = F. Sorry about that! 

Group "SF" should answer TWO of the four questions below in a short response, at least a few sentences, and in enough detail so I can see you ‘thinking.’ I don’t want a yes/no answer, and there’s no one right answer; I simply want you to engage with the story and be able to explain why you think the way you do about it. Don’t worry about being wrong or even confused. Writing your way through a response will help you understand the story more than if you wrote nothing at all.

Q1: In his author’s note, Charles Payseur writes that he was inspired to write the story because of “how rivers are exploited and polluted, a situation that mirrors other, much more human experiences” (351). What do you think he means by “other…more human experiences?” How could the story of exploited rivers trying to free themselves relate to us?

Q2: According to the story, why did the rivers get exploited/enslaved in the first place? Why didn’t they fight back earlier, and why do so few of them resist even in the events of the story?

Q3: When the rivers accuse the people of Abbotsville of betraying them and being no better than the Luteans (the ‘bad guys’ of the story), the Sheriff  responds, “I am better than the Luteans!...You think we want it this way? We’re just making the best of a bad situation, and not one that we caused” (9). Why does he feel forced to enslave and torture the rivers as well, even though he’s one of the ‘good guys’? Are we supposed to be sympathetic to his point of view, or does the story suggest that all humans are ultimately ‘bad’?

Q4: The rivers are trying to reach the ocean, but one of them admits, “The sea is a myth,” and even the narrator fears that he might be right. Since we as readers know the ocean isn’t a myth, why does the author have the rivers question the existence of a gigantic body of water? What might this represent to the characters that they hope for its existence, but secretly can’t believe in its existence? (hint: think metaphors)



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