Weblog 6: Failures

When I was ten years old, I was in fifth grade. At that time, I had terrible study habits, but I didn’t care because I was so young. I never studied for quizzes or tests, and even though I always completed my homework, it was done very sloppily. Our first social studies quiz that year was about the 50 states in America. We had to memorize the names and locations of all of the states. For the first time in my life, I wanted to do well on a quiz. I convinced myself that I could get 100% on the quiz. As the quiz date got closer and closer, I started feeling nervous, but I didn’t study because I wasn’t used to studying and I didn’t know how to study. On the date of the quiz, I walked in to the classroom confidently because I thought I knew that I could do well. Even as I was taking the quiz, I felt like I knew what I was doing. However, when we got our quizzes back the next day, I was so shocked. I got a 58%. I had failed miserably.

            There were some indications that I would fail on this quiz. For example, I didn’t study at all for it. Instead of studying, I was just confident. Obviously, without studying, it is impossible to get a good grade on a test. However, because I was young, I was oblivious of that fact.

            W.D. Wetherell, the author of the short story The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant, foreshadows that the protagonist will not be successful at impressing Sheila Mant throughout his story. For example, the protagonist and Sheila Mant do not share any common interests at all. The protagonist pretends to understand what Sheila Mant is saying many times. “’Yeah, I can understand that,’ I said, though I couldn’t” (Wetherell 36) Fishing is a natural part of the protagonist. This can be seen when he “automatically, without thinking about it” (Wetherell 37) mounted his fishing reel and rod. It is obvious that the protagonist loves fishing, however Sheila Mant thinks that “fishing’s dumb” (Wetherell 38) which shows that she has no interest for fishing. The interests and personalities of the protagonist and Sheila Mant clash, and foreshadow the protagonists’ failure at impressing Sheila Mant.