Tuesday, June 29, 2010

The End/Final Thoughts

I actually liked the ending a lot. In my opinion, the author chose the most logical, realistic ending for a story like this. It would have made no sense if the sharks hadn't shown up, what with the fish bleeding so much and leaving a trail through the ocean. It was sad, but that's the way life works. Ernest Hemingway seems to understand that.

The title is kind of misleading. The sea plays a role in the book, but not a big one. The fish is the main focus for the old man. It would have made more sense to name the book The Old Man and the Fish, but I guess The Old Man and the Sea sounds better.

I felt bad for the old man at the end, but, like he said himself, he shouldn't have gone out so far in pursuit of the fish. It weakened him so that he didn't have sufficient strength to beat off the sharks. He was also so far out that if he got into trouble of some sort, no one would know or be able to help him. It was his own fault. At least now the other fishermen are reminded that the old man is still one of the best.

It seems that the one truly good thing that came out of the old man's journey is that the boy will be working with him on his boat again.

Sadly, Hemingway's writing style did not improve during the rest of the book. It still felt disjointed and sloppy to me. I felt like I could have gotten so much more from this book if he had elaborated on some things better.

Overall, I thought this book was fairly decent. It got kind of boring and monotonous at times, but the random anecdotes and dreams of the old man were pretty good. Especially the dream about the lions that he has several times throughout the book. And the ending was good.

Old Man and the Sea p. 55-73

Santiago's strength seems to be deteriorating slowly as the book progresses. The fish takes him by surprise and the old man cuts his hand on the line. For some reason, he washes his hand off by dipping it into the ocean. Salt water stings cuts like no other, but I guess the author forgot that. His other hand also develops a cramp after holding the line for so long. As the old man pointed out, he can't afford to have a cramp in his hand in case the fish does something unexpected and he needs two hands to hold the line.

A bird lands on his line, and he strikes up a friendly, one-sided conversation with it.

Later, the fish finally surfaces. It's a huge swordfish, bigger than the boat that the old man is in. I'm finding it hard to believe that one old man could hold such a huge fish for so long. Even if he is a fisherman, I just don't think it's possible.

I'm not really seeing Ernest Hemingway's reason for writing this book so far. All of the parts I liked have nothing to do with the main conflict between the old man and the fish. I'm finding that my earlier statement about enjoying this book more than I thought I was going to is being proven wrong with every additional page I read. The characters don't make sense to me, and the plot is becoming monotonous. He's been holding a line for around twenty pages now. Even if the old man can somehow kill the fish, he won't have the strength to return home with it.

Santiago catches a dolphin, but I don't think he caught an actual dolphin. He describes these as gold with purple stripes. That doesn't sound like any dolphin I know, and I know a lot of dolphins: they were my favorite animal when I was younger. He also says it's a fish, but dolphins are mammals not fish. It's doesn't really matter to the story, but I really want to know the actual name of the fish he caught.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Thoughts on Santiago

I don't really know what to make of Santiago. I want to like him, but most of the time I find him boring. That makes it extremely hard for me to like him. I think I mostly just pity him. If it wasn't for the boy, he would be alone. His wife is dead, he has no other family, and the rest of the town thinks him a failure if they think of him at all. He has such a sad life, yet he still manages to think positively.

I also noticed that he is extremely tenacious. He could give up and go work on another fishing boat when he doesn't catch anything for eighty-four days, but he stays with his own boat. He could let go of the line when he hooks the huge fish, but he resolves to keep hold of the line until either he or the fish dies.

I like that Santiago doesn't take nature for granted. He has a deep respect for and understanding of the sea and the creatures in it. He feels bad about killing the fish, so he kills them quickly instead of prolonging their suffering.

Santiago is also a proud man. He won't beg or ask for anything, even though he has nothing. In a way, this almost makes me pity him more. I have no doubt that if he didn't have the boy to care about him, he would starve or freeze to death at night.

Santiago cares for the boy, Manolin, as he would a son. The boy cares for the old man in the same way, loving the old man more than his own father.

Santiago loves baseball. His favorite player is DiMaggio. He always tells the boy about the day's baseball. I think the old man likes the baseball so much because in some corner of his mind, he wants to be a baseball player instead of a fisherman. When he is out fishing, he wonders if he should have been something other than a fisherman. He dismisses that thought quickly though, saying that he was built to be a fisherman. Still, everyone dreams of being something they're not at some point in their lives.

Santiago is a character that I see with many contradictions. Hopefully, reading the rest of the book will help me understand him better.

Old Man and the Sea p. 29-54

In these pages, Santiago hooks his first fish in eighty-five days. He starts off the day as usual when he goes to wake the boy. The boy helps him prepare his boat, and the old man sails away. The old man decides that he will go out really far today; farther than all the other boats. When he has chosen his spot, he drops down several lines at varying depths. It is obvious that the old man knows what he is doing and takes pride in his work. Even though it would be easier to let his lines drift, he keeps them steady and straight.

He spots a bird that eats fish circling above the water and follows it. He catches an albacore fish and sets it aside as bait that he could sell in town. Not long after that, he hooks another fish on his line. He can feel that it is a big fish. The fish gets hooked and starts to swim away, towing the boat with it. The fish keeps swimming and dragging Santiago along with him for many hours. The night passes, and the old man wishes that he had the boy to help him and keep him company so he wouldn't have to talk to himself.

During the night, the old man realizes that he and the fish are quite similar. They are both old and lonely, and they will not give up their struggle until they die. Personally, I kind of want the fish to win. It would be a sad and poetic ending, and it would be nice to see nature beat the humans for once. So, Go Fish! Besides, if the old man dies, he won't have to be lonely anymore.

My favorite part of the pages I read this time is when Santiago is floating on the sea waiting for his fish to bite. He sees the Portuguese Man-of-War floating next to him. He describes its deadly beauty, then calls it a whore. I thought it was funny to see cool, caring Santiago insult the passing sealife.

I also liked when Santiago thinks about a pair of marlin he once caught. The female got hooked by the old man first, but the male stayed and circled the boat, jumping out of the water so he could find the female marlin. I thought that memory was sweet and added a nice touch.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The Old Man and the Sea p. 1-28

The beginning of this book sees the old man, Santiago, returning from a day out on the sea. He is a fisherman by trade, but has fallen into a rut of bad luck. He hasn't caught a single fish in 84 days. Most people would have given up by that point, but Santiago remains cheerful and undefeated. He remembers the time when 87 days passed before he caught anything and then went three weeks where he caught only large fish.

He used to have a boy named Manolin to help him on his boat, but the boy's father made him switch boats in order to bring in money for the family. The boy still takes care of the old man, and spends as much time as he can with him. He brings the man food, even though the old man keeps pretending he has food. They talk about baseball often. Joe DiMaggio is Santiago's favorite player in the whole league, and the two characters spend a lot of time talking about him.

Hemingway describes the man's hut/house in clear detail. The old man lives by himself because his wife died. He has only the bare necessities except for some religious pictures on the wall. He used to have a picture of his wife, but it made him sad to see it, so he took it down. The old man seems to be very lonely. It is a good thing he has the boy to keep him company.

They eat their dinner and the boy returns to his home. When Santiago goes to bed that night, he dreams his recurring dream about lions. The scene in his dream is a memory from when he was a young man on a ship traveling along the coast of Africa. In his dream, he sees the lions on the beach at sunset. The image brings him peace, and he loves his dream as much as he loves the boy. The dream makes him feel less lonely, much like the boy does. This sounds like a pretty awesome dream to me. It's even cooler that the old man actually got to witness something like that for himself when he was young.

After he wakes up, he goes and wakes the boy. They prepare the old man's ship and he heads out to sea.

I think this book is turning out to be a decent story so far, but I have an issue with Hemingway's writing style. His sentences are brief and choppy, and that makes the thoughts and speech seem disjointed. It makes me feel like I'm missing something.

Writing style aside, I find I'm enjoying this book more than I thought I would.