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