Song Analysis

       In the song “The River,” Bruce Springsteen uses the symbols and archetypes of river, swimming, and youth to express the theme of life’s disappointments. According to Stevens, “the river is also an obstacle to migration” (11). At first swimming in the river was a “feeling [of being] at home” but through life’s disappointments swimming turned into a “horror of being overwhelmed” (Stevens 421). A child is a symbol of youth: “The child points to the future and carries within itself the seeds of its own maturity and completion” (Stevens 240).