Aside from a few scenes with the protagonist’s father, explicit religious thought rarely appears in A River Runs through It. It seems to be a book about the secular art of fly fishing. But for Norman, fly fishing is as much worship as attending his father’s sermons is. Through characterization, Biblical symbolism, and allusions, he shows how the practice of religion is not limited to quiet prayer but can be expanded to include a pastime far removed from a physical church. Maclean wastes no time in presenting this idea. Early on in the story and in their lives, he and his brother, Paul, would recite to their father that, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever” (1). In regard to fly fishing, this chief end manifests itself in how artfully the fisherman casts, not in how large a fish he ends up catching. The size of the fish is largely out of the fisherman’s control. What the fisherman can control is how well he practices…show more content… They are never late for either activity; they talk about bait-fishers as if they commit sacrilege. After Neal and Old Rawhide desecrate one of Norman’s holes, he says, “I never again threw a line in this hole, which I came to think of as a kind of wild game sanctuary” (68). This builds on his initial reaction to seeing them on the sandbar. He insisted on believing they were bears even long after he knew they were not. It was as if he could not imagine two humans doing what they had done in his holy place. Just as setting is an important aspect of good prayer, proper setting is important in fly fishing. While a fitting place for prayer may be a quiet room, free from distraction, the fisherman determines a fitting hole to fish depending upon the weather, the depth, and the speed of the water. But beyond the physical attributes of a location, its history and sanctity are also vital to its viability. It is difficult to worship in any manner in an unholy
