I have a question regarding the construal of the final scene of Hemingway's "Indian Camp," which goes like this:

<quote>
They were seated in the boat, Nick in the stern, his father
rowing. The sun was coming up over the hills. A bass jumped,
making a circle in the water. Nick trailed his hand in the water. It
felt warm in the sharp chill of the morning.
<unquote>

So, while on a boat on their way back from the Indian village, they saw a bass jump. The bass jumped and "made a circle in the water." I'm not quite sure what this means.

Many famous professional translators took this part to mean something like "a bass jumped up and then plunged back into the water, and it caused a ripple."

If it were "on the surface of the water," this would seem like the only possible construal. However, since it's "in the water," what actually happened was "a bass jumped up and plunged back into the water, and it moved in a circle in the water just below the surface"???

Could any one help me out?

Question

I have a question regarding the construal of the final scene of Hemingway's "Indian Camp," which goes like this:

<quote>
They were seated in the boat, Nick in the stern, his father
rowing. The sun was coming up over the hills. A bass jumped,
making a circle in the water. Nick trailed his hand in the water. It
felt warm in the sharp chill of the morning.
<unquote>

So, while on a boat on their way back from the Indian village, they saw a bass jump. The bass jumped and "made a circle in the water." I'm not quite sure what this means.

Many famous professional translators took this part to mean something like "a bass jumped up and then plunged back into the water, and it caused a ripple."

If it were "on the surface of the water," this would seem like the only possible construal. However, since it's "in the water," what actually happened was "a bass jumped up and plunged back into the water, and it moved in a circle in the water just below the surface"???

Could any one help me out?

gonative · Answer

I would agree with “caused a ripple”. I also agree with the “bass jumped up and plunged back into the water.” However, the bass did not necessarily move in a circle.

On a lake, occasionally you can hear fish jump out of the water. They sometimes do it so quickly that you don’t see them. By the time you look in the direction of the sound, all you see are the ripples (circles) that their jump created. This is why I would agree with the interpretation of rippled water.

gonative · Answer

@awesome_mrt I think you make a good point about circle versus circles. One thought is that the outer ripple defines the size of the circle. It’s also the most visually clear ripple. From far away, you won’t be seeing and counting individual circles. Rather, you’d see one disc shape—a large circle. Too bad we can’t just ask Hemingway!

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