Charlie considered himself a river man: He was born in the woods, and he found the river a source of comfort, a place of sustenance, and a spot to recharge. Throughout much of Charlie’s life, he takes homemade boats out onto the river and sets up trotlines. While these trotlines catch fish that feed his family, the experience of fishing provides Charlie with solitude and peace. It’s while out on the river that he meets his best friend, Hootie, and he looks forward to their time on the water because he tells stories to Hootie, shares meals with him, and contemplates life.

For much of Charlie’s life, the river runs naturally. However, as the old South transitions to the new South, the river becomes dammed for the growing industrial needs. While the dammed river breeds monstrous catfishes that Charlie enjoys catching, the dammed river is symbolic of the changing landscape of the South: “To Charlie, a river was supposed to run narrow and wild” (200).

Charlie was a thin man his whole life, but he had huge, strong hands that were permanently caked with dirt. Charlie’s hands were symbolic of his identity:

The hands were magnificent. They hung at the ends of his skinny arms like baseball mitts, so big that a normal man’s hands disappeared in them.