"The Young Man and the Lake" Response

         Mike is an aspiring professional fisherman preparing for a major tournament against the disapproval of his father. After a night out of underage drinking and a conversation with his father, Mike discovers that his friend Dave is planning to use his possible tournament winnings to go to college, rather than pursue professional fishing together like they’d planned. 

I loved the opening paragraph, with its humor and direct address to the reader, but it didn’t seem like either of these characteristics were sustained across the whole of the story, something I would have enjoyed. I would like to know why Mike is addressing us such, who he is addressing, and from what temporal distance the narration is occurring. Another thing I enjoyed about “The Young Man and the Lake” is the precise employment of terms to describe the fishing equipment and techniques, which clearly reinforces what the reader will later learn about the narrator, that he has a long-standing passion for fishing. 

The primary conflict of the story seems to be the troubled relationship between Mike and his father. Though this conflict was partially resolved with the conversation the two had after Mike returned from the bar, it didn’t seem to fully conclude. A full and complete conclusion isn’t strictly necessary for a story, but I feel like the relationship shown in the story ended in nearly the same place it began, with the father unsure of his son’s chances of winning the fishing tournament and disapproving of lack of future plans. The conversation with the father introduces the second conflict, of Mike feeling betrayed by Dave’s plans to enter college and forgo professional fishing. This second conflict will end the story on an inconclusive note, but I think it was too recently introduced to give the conclusion the weight it deserves. Finally, some specificity in the setting of the story, as well as the age, appearance, etc of the characters would have been helpful. We know the lake that the young men fish at is “Goose Pond,” but little beyond that about the setting or characters, beyond that they are underage young men in a presumably rural area.