A River Runs Through It

Quotes from 'A River Runs Through It'

In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing. We lived at the junction of great trout rivers in western Montana, and our father was a Presbyterian minister and a fly fisherman who tied his own flies and taught others. He told us about Christ's disciples being fishermen, and we were left to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fishermen and that John, the favorite, was a dry-fly fisherman.

-I think especially the first line states two important and powerful themes, fly-fishing and religion, which will continue throughout the story. What I have read so far I think there is much more to that, it is more about more about the beauty of the place Montana and also it's history.

"Paul was too young to swing an axe or pull a saw all day, and besides he had decided this early that he had two major purposes in life: to fish and not to work, at least not allow work to interfere with fishing. In his teens, then, he got a summer job as a lifeguard at the municipal swimming pool, so in the early days he could look over girls in bathing suits and date them up for the late evenings. . .Early, then, he had come close to realizing life's purposes, which did not conflict in his mind from those given in answer to the first question in the Westminster Catechism."

-I think you need some kind of a purpose in life, just like a goal, something you want to accomplish, but what that purpose should be is up to yourself. The purpose of life is to give your life a purpose, and nobody has to agree with it, as long as you are happy with it.
Paul decides early in life that his main purpose is to fish and not allow work to interfere with fishing. It seems like he is happy with that, but at one point in the story he appears to be thinking about his life a little bit deeper for a moment. He says he should leave beacuse there is nothing for him to do besides fishing, hunting, and getting in trouble, but in the next moment he throws that thought away and says he will never leave Montana. Paul probably could have lived his life different and wiser, and he might would not have died.
His brother, Norman, is totally different than Paul, he has a purpose and he knows it. He tries to help his brother the best way he can, and I tries to show him how he might could live his life better. The problem is, Paul can't see the world like Norman can. Paul lives an egoistic life and would never do anything that helps anyone but himself. When Norman realizes how lucky he is, to be able to help others and feels the love between him and his wife, he is really happy.
Overall I would say to have a purpose in life is important in order to live a good life, but what kind of a purpose it is, is important too. Otherwise you might end up like Paul.

One reason Paul caught more fish than anyone else was that he had his flies in the water more than anyone else. "Brother," he would say, "there are no flying fish in Montana. Out here, you can't catch fish with your flies in the air."

-This quote shows Paul's passion about fly fishing, you can see how serious he is about catching fish. It is also a very true statement he makes, you cannot catch any fish with flies in the air, you have to have them in the water.

 -I think thats is an important quote in the story because it tells you that something is going to happen to Paul. It also shows how important Paul is to Norman, and it is something he will remember all his life long. Fly fishing was the most important thing connecting them and also something they were doing since their childhood.