Family
The main theme in the story is that of family and how love functions inside a family. Norman and Paul were born and raised in a very close-knit family who cared more about their family members than anything else. The father loves his children and loves to spend time with them fishing or doing other activities and the mother is willing to get over everything bad her children do just to prove her affection. But the type of love that is extraordinary is the one between Norman and Paul, the two brothers. Even though the two were completely different, they never let their differences tear them apart and the relationship between them only became stronger as time went by. Even in their adulthood, the boys were always willing to drop whatever they were doing and go help their family and sibling. Norman in particular also felt that it was his duty as an older brother to love and protect Paul and thus be felt guilty when he found that Paul was found dead.
The idea of manliness
The male characters are obsessed with the idea of manliness and with trying to determine who is manly and who is not based on their behavior and attitude. A character who is describes as being manly is Norman and this is in part because of his profession, marriage and his passion for fly-fishing. Paul as well is considered manly because he has a macho attitude and also likes to spend time in nature and catch fish. A person who despite everything is not considered as being manly is Neal who despite drinking and sleeping around, refuses to learn how to fish. This, in Norman’s and Paul’s opinion, is akin to refusing bluntly to be a man.
Fishing and religion
Another theme in the novel is the idea that fishing and religion are both important in a man’s life and a man who can’t fish and strays from God is not a man in the real sense of the word. The characters are obsessed with religion because they have been raised in a religious environment and because they were told from an early age that religion was something important and something they had to bear in mind all their lives. They continues to maintain this belief even after they grew up and moved out of their parents’ house thus proving that religion was just as important for them as fishing.
