Because It Is Running By

Everyone have dreams, and everyone has to make grand choices some day in their lives. “Because It Is Running By” is a short story written by Jo Llyod, which deals with the lack of courage in taking a step towards our dreams, which many people has and can have.
In the story we are following Wil, who is a relatively young man, working on a farm and still living with his mother. Wil has dreams about exploring the world and experience what it has to offer, but several things has kept him back and tied him to his childhood, working on the farm his family owns, doing his daily duties.
Wil´s mom is presented as a hardworking woman, since we from the very beginning gets introduced to this woman called Edie, who is supposed to assist Wil´s mom with her duties, finally giving her more spare time.
Edie and Wil´s relationship later on evolves into love. Edie has done the thing Wil couldn´t. She broke her daily routine, took the step and travelled. Therefore Wil admires what she stands for and immediately falls in love with her. Then he begins to explain to her, how he had intentions of moving out and gone to college as well “I could´ve done my A levels, he said. Could´ve gone to college (…) Left when I was sixteen. When my dad died.” In other words, did Wil because of his father´s death, give up his dreams and his studies and never came back on the horse. Later on Wil talks about the caravan which has become a symbol of his dreams of travelling in the world. Wil explains how he used to travel with the rest of the family in it, and how they suddenly stopped doing it, probably because of the loss of his father: “ The caravan had flowery thin curtains, he remembered, that didn’t quite cover the windows. It trembled with the dreams of the people in it.” Now the caravan is bound and worn to the same place. Therefore the caravan is a symbol of Wil´s broken dreams, which never came true. We also hear how the about this aforementioned lively river. How it passes right in front and past the caravan: “The river path passed in front of the Caravan.” This refers to Wil´s life itself, as the river passing right in front of him and right past his “broken” dreams which is the caravan. Therefore later on, we hear are how all nature suddenly stops moving including the river, and how the birds fly away. “It was the time in the afternoon when everything stopped moving. The gulls went down to the river. Buzzards drifted away into the distance like shreds of cloud.” This is in the end of the text, and this is just when Wil is concluding again not to do anything to achieve the dreams he just told Edie about: “She smelled of soap and gorse flowers, of sunlight and bracken and earth, things living, things dying, things continuing in the same way.”
Where Wil is a simpler and more primitive guy, worshipping old traditions and values, Edie is coming from another and higher class of society, which is London. Even though Edie also has broken dreams, getting kicked out of college, she continues on her travels although she is in love with Wil. This shows us that she is a much braver person than Wil and points out their contrasts between each other.
Though, the fact that Wil lives on the countryside and the fact that he still lives with his mom as an adult guy, shows that his freedom has restrictions and constraints, making it a larger challenge for him to break free of. Since living on the countryside is a symbol of old traditions and inheritage.
Like the river, the title “Because it is Running by” is a reference to Wil´s life. It is running just by him, making it more and more impossible to achieve and experience his dreams and goals, as him getting older and older.
The story is written in a third person narrator. The narrator is limited omniscient as we can see Wil´s thoughts, but only his. The story is chronological although Wil is thinking back several times. There are used few adjectives but many describing Edie only, showing us how much in love he is with her, and to show us his admiration of her: “One day, Wil, coming back that way at sunset, saw Edie sitting on the steps (…) the light caught her face, lit it up, as if a candle was burning beneath her skin.”
The dialogues are narrated very strange though. The dialogs run very fluently without interruptions and always mentions who is saying what like: “said Wil, said Edie”. The conversations are very slow and strange, and contribute to the weird atmosphere and mood throughout the story. Through the conversations we form ideas about their personalities, defeats and dreams which points out their contrast towards one another. The story starts off in in medias res, with the introduction of Edie.
This story illustrates a great picture of a guy who always should have followed through and not given up on his dreams, and why other people shouldn’t either. It stands out very clear, that this guy wanted and dreamt about his future intentions and goals very much, about getting educated, travelling around the world and flying in airplanes. The sad thing is that none of it came true, and that’s why people like Wil should never back down even though everything else is trying to stop you from achieving what you want. The story is a call from the author, reminding people to follow their true desires and dreams, and not sticking with the same and safe.