Summatize Reading the River - Essay Example

Summary As one learns more of one’s trade, the charms that are evident to one as a rookie start to fade away. Over the passage of time, one’s outlook of one’s trade changes to the extent that one even cannot find the original charm altogether. This is the story of a person who has been sailing in the steamboat on a river for a long time. When the narrator started sailing, he was overwhelmed by the beauty of the river water’s surface. The sun’s reflection, the ripples, the unique color combinations formed by the various features existing within and outside water, all had a mesmerizing effect on the narrator.

But the narrator has seen everything regularly for so long that the mesmerizing effect has now completely vanished. Now, the narrator takes the sunset, the shadows or reflections on the water’s surface, the ripples, and such other features as information that he uses to assess the weather conditions and other knowledge useful to his trade. Now, his desires to witness all the beauty of the river have been replaced by his desire to have a smooth sailing. The narrator wonders if the same feelings are experienced by people belonging to other trades.