Gus and the Transformation
OPENER: A native awakes in the center of a little cosmos-or a big one, if his intelligence is vast-and he wears this cosmos like a robe, senses the barely perceptible shifting, migrations, moods and machinations of its creatures, its growing things, its earth and sky.
(Duncan 53-54)
BRIDGE: In this excerpt from David James Duncan’s novel, The River Why, Duncan tells us metaphorically the qualities that a native or one with native
intelligence possesses. A native knows who he is and embraces his human and natural communities; a native is indigenous. Duncan's protagonist Gus
shows us how one can transform one’s self into a native. Written in 1983, Duncan’s The River Why gives readers a somewhat modern day example of a
transformation one can make from a non-native to a native. But to better understand this transformation that Gus undergoes, non-native, native, and
native intelligence must first be defined. CONCEPT DEFINITION: Duncan shows the reader that having native intelligence is when one has knowledge
and love of one’s own niche. They have the highest appreciation of their human and natural communities. . A native is one who is selfless, loving,
mature, and spiritual. On the contrary, a non-native is one who is selfish, irreverent, and faithless. PLAN AND THESIS: Throughout the novel, Gus
transforms from a selfish, adolescent, and faithless person, to a selfless, mature person who has faith in the intangible. Gus makes this transformation
by finding love in his life, experiencing spirituality, and accepting mortality.
TOPICE SENTENCE: Before Gus makes this native transformation, he plans to move out of his parents’ house and live alone. At this point, Gus has a very immature view of what he wants to do with his life. LINK: He believes that all his needs will be fulfilled when he maximizes the time he spends doing strictly what he desires. INTRO TO PASSAGE: Portraying Gus’s selfish and adolescent view, Duncan writes:
WAYS TO ACTUALIZE IDEAL SCHEUDULE
1. finish school; no college!
2. move alone to year-round stream (preferably coastal)
3. avoid friendships, anglers not excepted (wastes time with gabbing)
4. experiment with caffeine, nicotine, to eliminate excess sleep
5. do all driving, shopping, gear preparation, research, etc. after dark saving daylight for fishing only
(58)
CONTEXT: At this point in the novel, Gus is living at home with his parents and little brother. He has decided that he hates his parents, and has totally rejected them. While planning to move out, Gus created an ideal schedule that is going to allow him to do what he loves at all times. CONDENSE: This ideal schedule shows us that he wants to end school, move somewhere that he can fish every day of the year, not get involved with any people other than himself, minimize his sleep and maximize his fishing time, and make other sacrifices for extra fishing time. The fact that Gus would make such a schedule shows extreme, adolescent qualities. He cares for himself and his own needs. CONNECT: In addition, this schedule tells you that ideally Gus will spend time only with himself; Gus has too much self-love. This analysis captures the idea that the ideal schedule is an icon of a selfish, adolescent Gus. Duncan is showing us that in maturing, most people go through a phase during which they care only in pleasing themselves, and act only to benefit themselves.
TTS: Although Gus once had too much self-love and an adolescent view of his wants and needs, he begins to seek and understand the benefits of love. Gus matures into a man who can love outside himself. LINK: He not only can care for his own needs, but the needs of others as well. INTRO TO PASSAGE: Illustrating Gus as a person who loves and cares for others, Duncan writes:
“Eddy had come! And as I walked with the salmon that love overwhelmed me… Couldn’t love create that sacred balance? Wouldn’t love dissolve all stress? And from my depths came a wavelike rush of certainty: love could sustain the frailest of lines! As long as I loved I would not lose the salmon. It didn’t matter how big or strong it was: with love alone coursing down the line it would have no desire to escape!”
(274)
CONTEXT: Leading up to this point, Gus has completely disregarded his ideal schedule, he has found a job that teaches and helps others, and he has developed a sense for environmentalism. CONDENSE: In the excerpt above, Gus is playing a 50-pound Chinook on a three-pound lead. He is doing this because Eddy had hooked it for him and told him to just play the salmon, and then she left. While doing so, Gus decides that as long as he loves, he would not lose the salmon. As long as he has love for Eddy, the salmon would have no desire to leave or fight him. Gus now has love for someone other than himself. In saying, “As long as I loved I would not lose the salmon,” Gus clearly shows us that he now understands that he must love and make sacrifices for someone else in order to reach fulfillment. Therefore, it is his love for Eddy that has pulled Gus out of his adolescent mind set that he only needs to please himself. Loving Eddy has made Gus a selfless mature person and therefore a native. CONNECT: Through Gus finding love, Duncan tells the reader that love plays a significant role in being fulfilled. Loving requires us to be selfless, mature, and committed.