The Old Man and the Sea #4

 The Old Man and the Sea, is a book with very few characters.  It has two if you just count humans, Santiago, the old man and Manolin, a boy who is the old man’s companion. If you also count the animals like the marlin, the sharks, the birds, and other fish, there is all kinds of characters.  There is only one hero in this novel though, he is not like the other characters, and he is the main. His name is Santiago, the old man.

Santiago has many traits: lack of luck, lack of fear, determination, and strength (both physically and emotionally). He uses all of these traits throughout the book.  He has a lack of luck, because he cannot seem to catch this marlin that he has been trying to catch for more than 80 days. His lack of luck doesn’t stop him though; he does have the trait of being determined.  Santiago stays out in the sea until he can reel in his precious marlin. Along the way he is physically uncomfortable. The position actually was only somewhat less intolerable; but he thought of it as almost comfortable.” (Hemingway 47). Despite his pain, the old man maintains his glass-half-full personality, and I really respect him for that. When he does finally reel in his marlin, sharks do try to eat it at first, but Santiago stops the couple groups.  He stops them by physically fighting the sharks.  This shows his lack of fear, determination and strength.  Sharks do indeed end up eating most of the marlin though. He them went back to his shack in Havana, he wasn’t emotionally scared, he wanted to go back out. These examples are all of Santiago’s. They are special, because they don’t remind me of any on else.

Santiago accomplishes a lot, and then does end up losing what he had accomplished. He caught his fish that he wanted for so long, and then he ended up losing it to some sharks along the way back to Havana.  I think that Santiago did indeed return to sea, even though the book didn’t tell me he did. I think he had gained some personal knowledge on what it would now have to take to catch another Marlin again. He didn’t accomplish an object, he accomplished gaining knowledge, and I think that’s a lot better than a fish.  

Santiago represents determination.  I know I use this word a lot but it is truly what I think this novel is all about.  I believe this because no matter what happens the old man is never willing to give up.  He gets stronger and learns from his many mistakes out at sea. For example, “What I will do if he decides to go down, I don’t know. What I’ll do if he sounds and dies I don’t know. But I’ll do something. There are plenty of things I can do.” (Hemingway 78) This shows that he has determination that he will eventually get the Marlin, but it will a “waiting game.”   He uses determination throughout all of the plot and conflicts of the novel, The Old Man and the Sea.  

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

Old Man and the Sea #3

At first The Old Man and the Sea did not energize me to keep on reading it.  When I realized the universal themes of the book, I actually did start to like more.  Throughout this novel it has many different universal themes that help make the book seem like it has a purpose.  After reading and analyzing The Old Man and the Sea I truly saw the different aspects of human nature and themes throughout Hemingway’s novel. The themes I noticed were perseverance and pride.

Perseverance is the first thing that came to mind when finished the novel.   This is because the old man’s battle with the fish is not only a battle of strength, but a battle of wills. The old man makes up for his old age with incredible endurance, willing to withstand hunger, physical pain, and isolation from the rest of the world as he battles the fish. The quote ‘I’ll stay with you until I am dead,’ shows that the old man had perseverance. (Hemingway,78). This shows he has a lot of perseverance because he is never willing to give up, because if he would give up he would be giving up his passion. I think this is a great theme Hemingway thought of, and I think it is the main universal theme of the novel.  

In the beginning of The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago had almost too much pride, and he tended to blame himself.  This wasn’t good for his physical and emotional needs.  When he went out to sea, he perhaps went too far, he then caught the fish and it was then eaten by sharks.  The old man’s pride was “long gone,” in my opinion, because at one point he asked himself if pride was the problem, and was extremely humiliated he wasn’t coming back with a big marlin. He blamed himself, because the Old Man said “'I shouldn't have gone out so far, fish,' he said. 'Neither for you nor for me.'” (Hemingway 110) His pride does soon return to him though when he explains what happened out at sea, to the boy.

The themes perseverance and pride were just one of the very many themes in the novel The Old Man and the Sea.  I believe Hemingway made it this way to teach the reader a lesson about pride and not giving up on yourself.  These universal themes show us the realities of being a human, and how human really nature works.  


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

The Old Man and the Sea #2

In the book, The Old Man in the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway, there are many conflicts that have a cause, and have real gains and losses that impact the book dramatically. There was one main conflict in the book, and that was the main character, Santiago, could not seem to catch a marlin.

The old man used to be lucky in his previous years, as explained in the book.  But now it had been eighty four days and he hadn’t caught a fish, this was the first and the main problem throughout the book. (Hemingway 9.) He could not catch any fish because it was believed that he was “salao,” which is the worst type of unluckiness. (Hemingway 1). During the book though, after waiting for a couple more days he finally did catch the fish he wanted. Then unfortunately, sharks had come up and fought for the Marlin, and in the end the sharks had won.  In this novel, he didn’t gain back his strength, luck, or even food.  He gained a better look at life, and how it should be lived.  He now understood that he must not give up, and one day he will catch many marlins. This old man loves to fish and not be lonely along the way, as well.  He also gained knowledge on what he needs to bring the next time he wants to go fishing for a marlin again.  Yes, he has lost a lot, but what he has gained is even better than what he had before.  He had accepted that he failed, but he knew now that there was no turning back. This shows that he gained perseverance from his battle with the shark and even the marlin. He will use his perseverance most likely, and be successful the next fishing trip he goes on.  This book in a way shows you how you can better your understanding how to turn a conflict into a gain, in many ways.

  

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

Old Man and the Sea #1

In the short novel, The Old Man and the Sea, I think that Ernest Hemingway described his life, values, and attitudes through the characters.  He did this mostly through the main character in the book, Santiago.  Santiago is an old fisherman who lives in 1940’s Cuba.  He has bad luck, but that does not stop him. I gathered that determination was the theme of the book, The Old Man and the Sea. 

Throughout the different thoughts and actions of the book, I can see clearly how Hemingway views how life is lived and how it should be lived. I have gathered that Hemingway liked the West Indies area because the book takes place in Cuba. He lived in the West Indies for a portion of his life. (Hemingway 128).  I also gathered that he liked to fish and boat on in the ocean.  I noticed this because he uses a lot of boat and fishing terminology throughout the book.

Hemingway’s personal values were shown within the book as well. He definitely did not like being alone and always wanted his best friend Manolin. Manolin was a young boy who was learning how to fish with the help of Santiago.  Santiago was lonely for most of the book though, but it wasn’t the boys fault, his parents didn’t want him with the old man because they felt the old man was “salao,” which means he has the worst kind of unluckiness. (Hemingway 9).  He did not like that his companion was gone, because he would always think among his many thoughts, “I miss the boy.” (Hemingway 86). From this, we can assume that Hemingway had a best friend, and never wanted them to leave, so he wrote about that feeling.  I have also gathered that Hemingway wrote this book so people would not give up on what they are trying to accomplish; perseverance. He described that Santiago never gave up, because when he did not catch the marlin, he said he would go back out to sea and try to catch another marlin.

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