Rituals in the life of Norman Maclean
             Norman Maclean is a remarkable writer that wrote many stories. Norman was also an English professor at Dartmouth College and at the University of Chicago. His most known piece of writing is non-fiction and is called "A River Runs Through It." This novella takes place in the 1930's, but Maclean does not write it until 1976, when he is seventy-six years old. "In it, ["A River Runs Through It"] the author reflects on his years of fishing with his father and brother on the Big Blackfoot River" (Norman (Fitzroy) Maclean n.p.). As a young man, Maclean, his brother Paul, and his parents had rituals that were a part of their lives. While some of the Maclean family rituals were religious, the majority of their rituals dealt with fishing, and the others were normal, everyday rituals that helped to make Norman Maclean become the admired man that is known for.
             There are many examples of religious rituals that appear in Maclean's novella. One ritual occurs every Sunday after morning church services.
             On Sunday mornings my brother, Paul, and I went to Sunday school and then to "morning services" to hear our father preach and in the evenings to Christian Endeavor and afterwards to "evening services" to hear our father preach again. In between on Sunday afternoons we had to study The Westminster Shorter Catechism for an hour and then recite before we could walk the hills with him while he unwound between services. (1)
             This ritual is a part of life for Norman, Paul, and their father. Both Norman and Paul knew that if they did not recite from The Westminster Shorter Catechism they would not get to go to the hills with their father. Going to the hills was an important ritual for their father because it was a place to "restore his soul and be filled again to overflowing for the evening sermon" (1). Without this weekly ritual for Norman and ...