The old man and the sea




The old man and the sea is a novel written by Ernest Hemingway in 1952.
 The novel tells the story of Santiago, an old man who had gone eighty-four days without catching a fish but his decision to achieve his aims is not worth the effort to be done to achieve his aims, in his case to catch a big fish.

Firstly the book is not classified in chapters although it might be divided in several parts: the first one corresponds to the old man’s background and his own arrangements to go out fishing.
The second part, when he goes to the sea and has his fight with the fish and the sharks. The last part of the novel, to conclude, the arrival of Santiago, the old man, to the port. 
The novel follows a lineal development since the succession of facts is told in chronological order.

As regards the plot, Santiago is an old fisherman from Gulf Santiago who goes fishing with a boy, who has great affection for the old man, but has to leave him for other fishermen who are more fortunate in their fishing. Nevertheless, the boy continued helping him.
One day the old man decides to go out to the sea with the main aim of ending his wrong squall in fishing. The boy had obtained fodder for him. After a few hours of sailing he had lost all sight of coast, and a fish had punctured the fishhook. It was an enormous fish, ready to fight up to death, if it was precise.
In addition, the boat sailed as the big fish liked it out of the sea. The old man felt tired, was losing strength and he was foreseeing how the fish could kill him and he would have to drop his life in the attempt.
After a long and hard battle the fish had the worst luck and the old man brought the victory, he couldn’t believe the fish was so big; he took it up to the boat and returned to the coast.
The fish would arrive to firm land, it was the main aim the old man had, nevertheless, and for his disappointment, a shark appeared and the old man aimed a blow in the head with his harpoon.
The shark went away but not much later other sharks and birds appeared, the old man could scare them off but they had eaten half the fish, just leaving its head, bones and tail, considered enough to give testimony of his great achievement.
Finally he arrived at port. It was at night and there was nobody to help him and when he ended he went home to sleep. The Next morning, the boy, who was very worried, dropped by to see how he was as he had promised the old man that he would go out fishing with him.
The other fishermen, who had laughed at first, recognized Santiago’s worth, the old man who had fished a shark.

In this novel the main character is the old man, even he is the main third person narrator. He is a very old man and although he had lots of wrinkles in his face his eyes had the color of the sea and “they were happy”.
The old man was admired by the young boy who had learnt to fish with him, so he helped every time he could.
The language in this novel is varied and some words that people use in this area have not been translated by the author. It might be said that the most important characteristic of the novel is the story is provided with a very meticulous range of actions, thoughts, environment, etc.
To conclude, it is important to highlight the message that the novel transmits, the determination of people to achieve their aims without bearing in mind the efforts to be done.

All in all, I liked the novel by Hemingway because it is very descriptive and it is pleasant and easy to read, it is a clear example of people’s capacity of overcoming issues and their determination to achieve their goals.

                                   GRACIELA SUÁREZ DÍAZ. ADVANCED LEVEL. YEAR 2

Comentarios

  1. Thank you very much, Graciela, for choosing Hemingway, he is must for any ESL learner!

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