The old man of the essay

OLD MAN AND THE SEA  by Ernest Hemingway, Scribner  paperback Paperback Fiction, 1952.  Genre: Fiction

    The The Old Man and the Sea was about an old  Cuban fisherman.  The old man’s name is Santiago. The story takes place  in the  Cuban waters off tof the Gulf of  Mexico.  His  problem is that he can't catch a fish.  He feels unlucky.  Santiago has to prove  to himself  and the other fisherman that he can still catch a big fish. Santiago   does catch a giant Marlin at the end.

“This is a touching, yet realistic portrait of courage, determination and triumph over adversity”,  James W. Holly, Amazon.com reviewer from Weathland  Wyoming.

I chose this quote because I think Santiago showed  a lot  of courage  by going out by himself and a lot of determination because he hadn't caught a fish in  84 days.

I found that the book’s writing style contained alot of imagery.  “Everything about him was old except his eyes, and they were the same color as the sea and were  cheerful and undefeated” (10). This use of language made me feel sorry for  Santiago.   Every day he would go out and never catch a fish but he was happy.

Comparing the Old Man and the Sea  to the Blind  Side t found the same theme  of determination  is very similar.  In contrast, in the blind side  the main character had a lot of recognition for his accomplishments but in the Old Man and the Sea, Santiago does not get any credit for what he does

The quote “A man can be destroyed but not defeated means that  despite  Santiago's daily struggle to catch a fish he continues to go out everyday and never gives up.  An example of this would be playing on losing teams in baseball but I continued to play despite a losing record.

I enjoyed this book because of the underlying fishing theme.  I want to one day go fishing for Marlin and try to bring in one of these powerful fish,.

3 Paws