Ernest Miller Hemingway

The Old Man and the Sea

Biography

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born in 1899 in Chicago as the second of six children of a doctor. In 1918 he volunteered to work as an ambulance driver on the Italian front, where he was badly wounded, but twice decorated for the work on the Italian front.

He returned to America, where he got married. In 1922 he reported on the Greco-Turkish war, however two years later he resigned from journalism to devote himself to writing. His international reputation was secured by his next three books: "Fiesta", "Men without women" and "A Farewell to Arms". Another bestseller was: "For whom the bell tolls".

In 1954 Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature following the publication of "The old Man and the Sea". Ernest Miller Hemingway committed suicide in1961.
 

Setting

Most of time the main place is the sea, only the beginning and the end of the story takes place in a small village, where the old man and the boy live.

Main characters

Old man: He is an old and wise fisherman, he knows much about fishing and therefore he finally catches the biggest fish he had ever seen.

The boy: He loves the old man because he thaught him how to fish. The old man is a kind of father substitute for him. He would do anything for the old man.

Structure

The book is about 109 pages and it is written in a third person perspective.

Plot:

The book is about an old man who fishes alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream. He has gone for 84 days without catching a fish. In the first 40 days a boy was with him everyday, but because the old man had no luck the parents of the boy forbade him to fish with the old man. It makes the boy sad to see the old man coming home each day without catching a fish. On the 85^th day the old man also fishes alone. He is far out and puts his baits out. After some time, he maneges to catch a small tuna. He rows on and suddenly a huge fish takes the bait. The old man knows that it must be a huge fish as he feels its unbelieveable wheight. So the old man can't raise the fish, instead the boat begins to move to the northwest pulled away by the fish. He is so far out that no land is visible, but he hopes that the fight with the fish won't take very long and he can go home. He fights with the fish, as he has to keep the line taut not to make the fish tired. The man gets injured because the fish is much stronger. His left hand gets cramped and cut and the line cuts him under the left eye because the fish once pulled down quickly. Then a dolphin takes the other fishingline and the old man kills the dolphin. He eats it in order to stay strong although the raw meat doesn't taste well. The old man starts to talk with the fish because he knows of its size that it must be old. Another reason is to keep the old man's head clear. Sometimes he even feels sorry for the fish but his iron will to kill him never relaxes. It gets darker, and the fish slows down. Then the old man falls asleep, but when the fish starts to jump out of the water the old man is woken by the movement of the line. He knows that the fish begins to circle now and he hopes that the fight will be over soon. The circles become smaller and the fish rises. It is the biggest fish the old man has ever seen. But the fish is always too far away from the boat to get him with the harpoon and the old man can't pull the fish near enough without destroying the line.

Although he feels sick and he hasn't speep for many ours, he continues his work. After some time the fight is over and the old man drives his harpoon in and kills the fish. But the old man can't haul the fish into his skiff because the fish is too big. So he lashes it alongside and sets sails to southwest. But then sharks come to eat the fish. Each time a shark bites into the fish the old man drives his knife into the head of the shark and kills it. The old man kills some sharks this way, but there are too many of them and it gets darker and the old man can't see them. When he finally arrives home, there is nothing left, only the 18feet long skeleton of the fish. The next day the boy comes into the old man's shack and tells him that the other fisherman, who always laughed at him now respect him and that the boy now will fish again together with the old man. That makes the old man proud and after that he feels well.

Interpretation:

I think the Old Man and the Sea show human courage and endurance. The old man catches a huge fish all by himself, always thinking that man can be destroyed but not defeated.

The courage of the old man is something great. Even when the situation seems to be hopless he does not give up.

I would say the book is worth reading because of the never ending fight between the fish and the old man, not without a reason Hemingway got the Nobel prize  for Litarature for this book.