The Third Bank of the River is a short story written by brazilian writer João Gimaranes Rosa (1908-1967). Based on magic realism, the novel tells the absurd story of a dutiful father who runs away from home, takes a boat into the river to live, and never goes ashore for life. Just over 3,400 words, but containing all kinds of unspeakable hidden pains and possibilities in life, it feels like it is difficult to read. It is no exaggeration to say that it is worthy of any novel, and the meaning of it is intriguing. When I first read it, I was so overwhelmed by shock, confusion, and pain that my father and his boat floated around in my mind, lingering like a soul dream in another world.
| synopsis
The story goes like this: a dutiful father, one day, suddenly had a whimsical idea and built a sturdy boat for himself. After waving goodbye to his family, he walked to a large river not far from home, not far away or fleeing, but driving alone on the river, never to come ashore. All he needed was food from his son, nothing else. His family tried their best to get him back to his homeland, but he was still the same. In the end, his white-haired son swore to him across the shore that as long as he returned, he would inherit his father's unsatisfactory career. The father approached the shore happily, but the son could not bear the image as if he came from beyond the sky, and fled in fear. My father never appeared again.
| rebels who live in mediocrity
In this story, the father resolutely runs away from home and chooses to be with the river for life, and the reasons for this are really elusive.
The novel begins with the following:
Father was a conscientious, dutiful, and frank man. It was my impression that he was no more pleasant or annoyed than anyone else, perhaps a little more taciturn. It was my mother, not my father, who was in charge of our family, and she blamed us every day.
Like many of our traditional ordinary families, my father was dutiful and silent, and showed less affection. The mother is capable of running the family and nagging, constantly venting her dissatisfaction with the status quo of life. There is a lack of communication between husband and wife. Everyday trivial life is tiresome. The father, who is innocent in heart and loves freedom, cannot bear the lightness of life, and he withstood the tremendous pressure of public opinion, resolutely withdrew from the ordinary life, put aside all family responsibilities, self-exiled on the nearby river, and endured all the sorrows, joys and sorrows of life alone.
My father wandered alone on a great river far from the world, no longer had to deal with complex social relations, did not have to worry about honor and disgrace, went in and out, and was depressed and anxious, and lived a purely peaceful life. In an alternative way of acting as a small person, he arrogantly rebels against life and breaks with the chaotic and mediocre real life. Through the father, the novel reveals the real difficulties of people's lives and the desire of the heart to get rid of the shackles of the world and pursue a free and pure life. Father's outrageous choice creates a huge impact and tension that strikes people's hearts and is shocking.
In the face of real life, everyone is in the shackles of life, large or small, and often loses the ability to break through the shackles of the collective because of the environment. We are usually more accustomed and numb to acceptance, even if we feel that there is something wrong with the real way of life and survival, we will not have the courage to really change. We always have too many responsibilities to bear, too many things that cannot be discarded, and too many helplessness, so that we can learn to be patient. And those who are the first to doubt and break the mold are often seen as heretics, denied and attacked. As described in the text: People don't understand and think that the father must be crazy.
| the path of self-redemption
Father's drift is not only to liberate himself from reality, but in essence it is a kind of free exile and redemption of the soul. He chose to break with life so firmly, and there may also be some kind of unspeakable hidden pain in his heart. In order to gain peace of mind, he carried his lost soul and embarked on the road of self-redemption alone.
I thought that maybe my father's father also had a small boat that carried the goal or meaning of life that he had worked hard to pursue all his life, but it did not come to fruition. So the father of the father needs the son to complete his unfinished business for him, or perhaps just to get some understanding from the son. But the father was young and ignorant at that time, did not understand the father's father, did something to hurt his feelings, at that time he did not have any special feelings, after many years, one day suddenly reacted and understood, felt incomparable pain or uneasiness, but could not be recovered, and then fell into an endless spiritual self-blame and torture. Others can't come in, and they can't go out on their own. In the end, he resolutely chose to float alone in the river in the hope of self-redemption. "He floats aimlessly like an abandoned ship," which is more like exile, a punishment, a strong sense of loneliness that is close to that of Gilgamesh's punishment in the flood.
| the cycle of fate – endless loneliness
Father was still floating alone in the river, while "I" was waiting alone on the shore, desperately hoping that Father would return soon. It wasn't until "I" was white-haired that my father's boat appeared in the distance, and "I" swore to my father across the shore: "If you want, whenever you want, I will step on your boat and take your place." Father was pleased and allowed "me" to get on board to take his place. When the father wants to get close to "me", "I" flee because I do not understand and are afraid, thinking that he seems to be from another world. Since then, my father has disappeared. And "I" have lost my spiritual support, my heart is desolate, and I will continue to carry heavy spiritual baggage in my life, and I will never find peace again. The author writes:
Have I been a man ever since? I shouldn't have been, I should have been silent. But it was too late to understand that. I had to live in the vast wilderness of my heart. I'm afraid I won't live long. When I die, I want others to put me in a small boat, go down the river, get lost on the river, and sink to the bottom of the river.
It's sad to read to the end. At the last moment, the son undoubtedly did not follow in his father's footsteps in search of the habitat of the soul, the third bank of the river. Losing my father, "I" was trapped in the wasteland of the soul, predicting that I would be lost at the bottom of the river, dying alone, and unable to be relieved when I died. Life is like being cursed by fate, it will fall into some kind of cycle, constantly repeating the cycle. That unpredictable tomorrow will be repeated in the way it was in the past. Just as my father's fate is the same as mine, the soul has nothing to rely on, and man is ultimately doomed to be lonely.
| explore the third bank of the river
As a spiritual brave, my father resolutely chose an alternative way of life between the two banks of the river in pursuit of absolute spiritual freedom. "I", as my father's only supporter and follower, fled in fear at the last moment, and my father disappeared from the ground. I can't help but wonder whether the disappearance of my father is a complete break with the world and the attainment of absolute spiritual freedom, or the disillusionment of the spiritual homeland. Does the third bank of the river exist or not?
The author seems to be telling an allegory about the soul, past or future. As the other shore of the ultimate realm of absolute spiritual freedom, there is no doubt that the third bank of the river is illusory. However, as the third bank of the river in real life, everyone will understand it differently. It can be said that everyone has their own other shore. In life, we have experienced the sorrows and joys of the world, many pains, but we still believe that there is a possible life, or a third bank of the river, which can allow us to get rid of worldly troubles for a moment and obtain spiritual peace and freedom. So along the way, we will grasp a certain thing, or a certain goal, or a certain person, as our own sustenance, to obtain the belonging of the soul, so as to better live and realize the meaning of life.
After reading this novel, I think that each of us has the right to choose our own way of life, and every choice is worthy of respect. If one day, life makes us unable to reach this shore or the other shore, I hope that everyone will have the courage to find their own third shore and find their own spiritual home.
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