By the River

Practice Essay - Joshua Snow
“by the river” is an inspiring novel written Steven Herrick about a boy named Harry who overcomes extreme grief and loss in his own illustrious way. The novel is written in a bildungsroman format, a novel that focuses on the psychological and moral growth of its main character from his/her youth to adulthood. He is helped by his dad and close friends after he went through the loss of his Mother, best friend Linda and his adolescent love leaving town. The first major grief he suffered in his life was the death of his mother.
Harry’s mother died when he was quite young. He may not have been old enough to completely understand what he is going through but every child will always mourn the loss of their mother. Growing up without out a mother didn’t seem to make a major difference in the Hodby household thanks to a very intelligent and respectful father who appeals to his family values. Harry was able to see his mother on the first Sunday of every month when the father would take the two boys down to the graveyard. “We leave him to share some time with our mother” Harry says after the dad “flicks” the boys some coins to get some fish and chips, their ritual when visiting mum. Harry seems to cope with the grief quite well as his dad had a set routine every day that the two boys would follow. Even though this routine keeps him in check, one day he decides it is time to let go of that grief once and for all after he meets a girl named Claire. Claire turned out to be like a girlfriend to harry and inspired him to do all the things he used to do before the grief overcame him. When she came along he became calm, mature and grown up all throughout his grieving stage. The major sign that he is letting go is when he sneaks into his father’s room and finds his mums dress. “I put my arms around her dress… I whisper into the warm fabric for one last time, then I leave” Not only did he suffer from the loss of his mother but the loss of his...