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Transcript

A Fishy Story

Timeline

Click on this fishman to learn more about the characters

Plot summary

The story begins in the west of Ireland, where Sinclair Yates is hoping to catch some fish. Although Sinclair had heard many rumors about the amount of salmons in the rivers, he didn`t manage to see any. After three days of fishing, he decides to go to his family in England by train. After the stationmaster sees him freezing outside, he lets him in his office to warm up. They talked of politics and salmon-fishing. The affect of the „personal element“ is mentioned for the first time. At the station he decides to buy a salmon at Coffey`s due to his failure in catching one himself few days back. The „personal element“ saves him again by making the stationmaster whistle in order to make driver stop the train so Yates could get back in. After few hours of travelling, Sinclair woke up realizing the train stopped, but not on the station it was supposed to be at eleven o`clock. He found the guard, the stationmaster, the driver, and his assistant in station, seated around a table, playing a game of cards. They drove him to the Loughranny comforting him by pointing out the fact that the mail train is often late. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived the mail train has gone. By the way, April is the time for maintaining a Feis, festival of Irish songs and dances and one of the reasons why all hotels in Loughranny were pretty much full. Despite that, the guard succeeds in finding him a place to spend the night. Sinclair is aware that the „personal element“ is the main reason he gets to sleep in the hotel and not on the street. Mike, the hotel boy, helped him in the morning carry his luggage and escorted him to the train. He arrived to the Harvey`s residence by evening where he encountered Phillipa, Alice Harvey and his niece whose wedding party they were all participating. In short amount of time, the wrapped salmon ended up crashing on the floor, spontaneously thrown by bride`s friend. After unwrapping the package, a broken bottle of whiskey was discovered in salmon`s place. Everybody (except for Alice Harvey) found themselves enthused by this turn of events. The whiskey was cleaned, and everybody continued enjoying the party.

Quotes

Time and place

One-pager about Mike

by Clare West

Conclusion

Sinclair Yates The main protagonist of the story, also a simple, ordinary person prone to contemplation about the "personal element", or in other words - the kindness of people towards strangers. Philippa Yates Sinclair`s wife, good and caring person who likes to call her husband a "fool" because he often forgets something. She is beautiful and likes to dress elegantly. Alice Harvey Philippa`s sister, she is rich but doesn`t like to spend. She lives in a big mansion and has a bunch of servants. When it was discovered that Sinclair took the wrong package, everybody enthusiastically laughed at Sinclair`s mistake, while she was thinking about the missing salmon and the fact that she has to buy something else for dinner. Sinclair`s niece, Alice`s daughter She is a young woman getting ready for her wedding. She welcomes her uncle with warm smile and sympathy. She showed her timid side by throwing the "salmon" to her best friend. the stationmaster Kind Irish individual with a good sense of humor. He lets freezing Sinclair into his own office how he could warm up. the guard Another caring Irishman who makes sure Sinclair catches up on train after buying the salmon at Coffey`s. Later, after Yates misses the mail train, he helps him find a hotel for spending the night. Mike Mike is a hotel boy at whose place Sinclair spends the night. He is around 15 years old, lives in Ireland and has an older sister which is to be married to Jimmy Durkan. He is kind, well-mannered and always ready to help others.

The story begins in the west of Ireland, where Sinclair Yates is hoping to catch some fish. Although Sinclair had heard many rumors about the amount of salmons in the rivers, he didn`t manage to see any. After three days of fishing, he decides to go to his family in England by train. After the stationmaster sees him freezing outside, he lets him in his office to warm up. They talked of politics and salmon-fishing. The affect of the „personal element“ is mentioned for the first time. At the station he decides to buy a salmon at Coffey`s due to his failure in catching one himself few days back. The „personal element“ saves him again by making the stationmaster whistle in order to make driver stop the train so Yates could get back in. After few hours of travelling, Sinclair woke up realizing the train stopped, but not on the station it was supposed to be at eleven o`clock. He found the guard, the stationmaster, the driver, and his assistant in station, seated around a table, playing a game of cards. They drove him to the Loughranny comforting him by pointing out the fact that the mail train is often late. Unfortunately, by the time they arrived the mail train has gone. By the way, April is the time for maintaining a Feis, festival of Irish songs and dances and one of the reasons why all hotels in Loughranny were pretty much full. Despite that, the guard succeeds in finding him a place to spend the night. Sinclair is aware that the „personal element“ is the main reason he gets to sleep in the hotel and not on the street. Mike, the hotel boy, helped him in the morning carry his luggage and escorted him to the train. He arrived to the Harvey`s residence by evening where he encountered Phillipa, Alice Harvey and his niece whose wedding party they were all participating. In short amount of time, the wrapped salmon ended up crashing on the floor, spontaneously thrown by bride`s friend. After unwrapping the package, a broken bottle of whiskey was discovered in salmon`s place. Everybody (except for Alice Harvey) found themselves enthused by this turn of events. The whiskey was cleaned, and everybody continued enjoying the party.

"Before the signal for my train was received, I realized for the hundredth time the wonderful individuality of the Irish mind and the importance of the 'personal element' in Ireland. If you ask people for help, they will break rules, ignore official advice, make special arrangements - all just to please you."

  • The "personal element", or in other words, kindness of people (in this case Irish people) towards strangers, is introduced in this quote. This quote also shows how thoughtful Sinclair can be. I think that`s important to recognize little things in everyday life.
"And Alice Harvey, who was rich enough to find much enjoyment in saving money, would have already planned the meal down to the last fish bone.“
  • Only one sentence is enough to describe Alice Harvey, Sinclair`s rich relative to whose house he was headed. If you ask me, having ability to save up some money can be useful, but not good for your guests.
"'I'll sit in the dining room till the time for the early train,' I said. ... 'What about the billiard room, Mike?' said the guard helpfully. 'We have blankets on the billiard table at this minute, and the man that won first prize for reels asleep on top of it! 'Well, can't ye put some blankets on the floor under it?' said the guard, putting my case and the salmon in the hall.“
  • Here we get to see the „personal element“ in action. Although Sinclair isn`t complaining about spending the night in the station`s waiting room, the guard is doing his best to insure him a dry place to sleep.
"'I've wrapped the salmon up in brown paper for ye, sir,' he said cheerfully. 'It's safe to take across Europe with ye if ye like! I'll just run up to the station now, with the luggage. Would ye mind carrying the fish yourself? It's on the table in the hall.' My train went at 6.15. The boy had put my case in one of the many empty carriages, and stayed with me, making pleasant conversation, until the train departed.“
  • For this boy, Sinclair Yates was just a customer like any other. Still, he willingly, no, cheerfully helped him get ready for the train. This shows that Irish are taught to have good manners from early age.
"I was just hoping I could go quietly upstairs to avoid meeting anyone, when a voice cried, 'Here he is!'“
  • I was surprised to see this introverted side of Yates, especially after talking with so many people before this point in the story. On the other hand, it just could have been that the trip wore him out so he wasn`t feeling like having any conversation.

Place and time The story takes place in Ireland and England. To be more specific, Sinclair visits places such as the west of Ireland, Munster and Connaught Railway, Carrig station, Loughranny station and finishes his journey in England, at his niece`s wedding. It is also mentioned that it all happens in April (the time of the Feis festival), in twentieth century.

Conclusion At first, I thought this was going to be a simple tale about fishing and everyday life. I was even prepared to be bored a bit. And I found out that this actually was just a simple story about fishing and everyday life. But I wasn`t bored at all. I really enjoyed reading about the "personal element" which almost makes me wanting to go to Ireland myself and see if Irish are really that warm and welcoming. I was also amazed by the way Sinclair notices all those kind acts made in order to help him reach his destination In conclusion, I found this story fairly intriguing and I`m looking forward to read more books written by Clare West.