"The Old Man and the Sea" Question 7

Ernest Hemingway is known for his unique writing style.  He uses a very short and straight to the point writing style that he introduced to the world in the 1900's.  I, myself, usually enjoy long witty dialogue that is thought out and uses lot of descriptions and such.  That is just about the complete opposite of Ernest Hemingway.  I found that I actually enjoyed his extremely watered-down-way of explaining things, however.  It was something different.  At first I found it difficult to stay focused and actually comprehend what I was reading.  After I got acclimated, though, I found it to be much easier to read and I got through the book quite fast because he did not take time to explain every little thing.  He got down to the point.  Hemingway used his short clipped way of speech to suck me in and keep me interested and I'm sure it has worked on may others, too.  Other than his writing style, he also has mystery on his side.  I know.  Your reaction was probably 'Say whaaaaaat?' Yes, "The Old Man and the Sea" is not exactly the most secretive book out there, but when I was reading I really was not sure what was going to happen.  I'm usually a pretty splendid guesser, too.  Once he had gotten the fish strapped to the side of his skiff, I obviously saw what a problem the blood was going to be for the poor old man, but I never even fathomed Santiago would ferociously fight off as many sharks as he did.  Frankly, I was not sure if he would actually make it back with a boat or not.  Ernest Hemingway created and then planted those little ideas and questions in my head that I had to have answered.  He engages his readers by making them think, 'What if??'

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

"The Old Man and the Sea" Question 6

"The Old Man and the Sea" is a peculiar piece of work.  I'm quite positive I would not have ever read this book had it not been required for this class.  Having read it, though, I can say it can offer a lot if you are in the proper mind set while reading it.  If you simply take it as an old man who has has caught a very large fish and is sailing it home then that is what you will get, a plain boring tale about a fisherman.  If you are open minded and willing to interpret the simple things to see what you can find then you will learn a lot from this book.  I think that is why it is still read today.  People like a challenge and this book can offer one, if you are willing to find it.  The two characters in this novel are both extremely likable in my opinion.  The old man, though he faces great adversity, is constantly persevering something but has a good attitude about it shows.  People like it when others can offer a smile even when they know they're going through a rough time.  I believe that is timeless about human nature.  Then you have the boy, who has an undying loyalty to the old man despite the fact all he has to offer is his knowledge of the sea and life, which those two things in the old mans eyes are basically interchangeable.  Even though it's against his parents wishes, the boy continues to take care of the man and offer him assistance in his old age, even if the man could make it on his own.  This is a type of relationship that will never cease to exist.  Young people will always be fascinated by the older population and all the wisdom they have to offer and the older generation will never grow weary of watching the youngins eyes twinkle with youth and hunger for knowledge.  The biggest message I saw in "The Old Man and the Sea" was of course perseverance.  This book teaches that life throws some very unfair and confusing situations at us and a lot of the time all we can do it keep our head up and keep on keepin on.  It shows us that the old man could have listened to what the townspeople had to say about him and believe he was a loser and that he had lost his touch as a fisherman, but he didn't.  He was optimistic and persevered and was rewarded.     






Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

"The Old Man and the Sea" Question 5

This book is a very simple book.  I'm struggling with this question and I'm going to say that right off the bat.  I'm not entirely sure what was going down in Cuba in the 1950's, so it's hard to say how well this novel reflected history, behavior, and social issues of the setting.  That's for sure.  They do talk about Joe Dimaggio quite a bit, so I can infer that they were a town that idolized celebrities and sports just like America did in the 1950's, well still do.  A social issue that I can infer is a typical one.  The old man didn't have much money, had no family, and had absolutely atrocious luck therefore he was looked down upon by the town.  Not many people never even tried to make conversation with him.  Most people simply made fun of him, and not even to his face.  This shows just how immature human kind is.  No matter how old we are, where we are, our social class, etc.  We are immature.  Some more than others.  This book symbolized multiple things:  friendship, luck, suffering, and off course perseverance.  We see the friendship between the boy and the old man, of course, but we also see the friendship between the fish and the old man.  I use 'friendship' loosely, but the two definitely had something going on.  The old man repeatedly referred to the fish as his 'brother' and talked to him like a peer despite the fact he never wavered in his destination; which was to kill the fish.  Despite the fact the old man doesn't really blame his drought on luck, his peers seem to put a lot of stalk into it.  When the old man goes eighty-four days without anything, they even begin to avoid him saying the 'salao' could rub off on them.  The old man prefers to believe that skill and preparedness is more important than superstition.  Luck is very present throughout the book, dictating the old mans friendships and his own temperament without even him even giving the say-so. So of course the most significant theme I saw in this book was perseverance.  I also saw friendship and optimism as a very good lesson in this book as well.  The man was considered about as unlucky as they come and no one believed he would ever catch anything agin.  He had everything going against him but he was relentless and persevered.  He had optimism and continued on.  He was rewarded big time for trudging on through the metaphorical storm that is life.  

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

"The Old Man and the Sea" Qestion 4

There are basically two characters in "The Old Man and the Sea."  There is the old man, Santiago, and the boy, Manolin.  They are referred to as the old man and the boy and their actual names are very rarely used.  The hero of the story is the old man.  He basically catches a ginormous fish that could eat him alive if it felt like it, and manages to get the skeleton of it home, which is a lot father that most people would get a fish that huge in a skiff that small.  He shows exemplary perseverance during his little brouhaha.  Not only does he catch an eighteen-foot marlin and kill it after having it hooked for three days all by himself, but he then wards off various shark attacks upon his prized fish, once again all by his lonesome.  That is some pretty hard core perseverance.  He is also a very wise character.  He tends to reminisce about the past quite a lot and we see that this old man has lived a long full filled life.  He has learned a lot from his long time on the earth and has shared it with the boy.  Through his relationship with the boy, we also see what a caring fellow he is.  As much as he enjoys having the boy around and wants him around, when the boy's parents tell him he can no longer go with Santiago to fish, he sees that it might be better for the boy if he was to go out on his own.  He puts his own feelings aside and looks to see what is best for the boy.  Santiago is portrayed as an extremely old man that age has taken effect on in some areas but physically he is still super human in some ways.  He rarely eats, and when he does he has to force himself to, yet he still has plenty of energy to get through the day.  Despite the fact he is at least in his eighties, the old man still has the gumption to bear the weight of an earth-shatteringly (yeah that's a word...) sized fish for three days and then kill this fish.  The old man still has excellent eyesight for his age as well as hearing.  He is also portrayed as a pretty strong-minded lad.  When his hands are bleeding profusely from holding the line the fish is attached to he his able to push through and tell himself his hands will heal in time, but he may never catch a fish quite like this again.  I know I keep going back to perseverance, but that is really what stuck out to me through this tale.  I believe that Santiago is a very good representation of perseverance.  He does not only show great lengths of courage when battling the fish, but also in persevering for eighty-four days without catching a single thing.  I believe that might be more impressive than sticking with the marlin for three days.  That was an immaculate show of physical perseverance, but it is much harder to persevere the harsh words of people sometimes.  




Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

"The Old Man and the Sea" Question 3

"The Old Man and the Sea" may be a short book, but in the few pages it does take up it can teach a lot if you look hard enough.  One of the main themes the book addresses is the theme of perseverance.  If I had to choose one word to sum up and describe this book as a whole, perseverance would be a pretty good selection in my opinion.  You start out with an old man who is a fisherman, but has not caught a single fish in eighty-four days.  Despite this huge gap in profit, the old man is still fishing every single day and never gives up.  All the fisherman in his town make fun of him, really everyone in the town makes fun of him.  This does not stop him, though, if anything it makes him stronger.  Next, the old man finally catches something!  Happy day!!  Side note:  It's a ginormous marlin that would probably give the Loch ness monster a run for its money.  This does not deter the fisher man, however.  If anything it causes him to be even more determined to reel the fish in and claim him as his own.  He struggles with the fish for three whole days.  He eventually reels the fish in and kills him.  He straps him to his boat and you would think this would be the end of it.  Nope!  Now he gets to fight off ferocious, blood-drunk sharks who want to devour his prized fish and do not really care what they have to do or what little fisherman they have to eat to do it!  Fun, right?  The old man would not really call it fun, I guess, but he does not appear to be all that phased by the situation.  You know.  Ginormous sharks come after me everyday, too, and they destroy every weapon I have and leave me with only a knife to defend myself with.  Yup.  Typical.  Ok, enough ranting.  My point!  The man perseveres!  He knows that there is pretty much no way he could possibly win this fight but he trudges on, well sails on, and does all in his power to protect himself, his fish, and his boat.  I believe that Ernest Hemingway really understood that even when people have everything going against them, we tend to fight and do all we can anyways.  The old man had everything going against him, but he fought and fought until the end.  Ernest Hemingway also portrays the relationship between the old man and the boy very well.  He shows how unconditionally the boy loves the old man despite the fact he has little to offer to the boy besides his knowledge.  He shows how humans are capable of great love built not just on material objects, but true friendship.  


Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.