" The River"

In the song “The River,” Bruce Springsteen uses the symbols and archetypes of sexuality, youth, and river to express the theme of decision making that can alter one’s life.  According to Bruce Springsteen, “We'd go down to the river, and into the river we'd dive, Oh down to the river we'd ride.” Springsteen implies that the lack of maturity and impulsiveness can lead to unfavorable outcomes: “Then I got Mary pregnant, and man that was all she wrote. And for my nineteenth birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat. We went down to the courthouse and the judge put it all to rest.” While the song first speaks of the wonders of youthful love-- “Me and Mary we met in high school when she was just seventeen, we'd ride out of that valley down to where the fields were green” --the reality of their immaturity has lead them down a different path that does not reflect a happy ending: “Now all them things that seemed so important, well mister they vanished right into the air, now I just act like I don't remember, Mary acts like she don't care.”