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The Old Man and the Sea (Paperback)
by Ernest Hemingway
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| MSL Pointer Review:
Wonderfully thrilling and touching, this book is a powerful story about physical and mental challenge, age, dreams and effort. |
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Author: Ernest Hemingway
Publisher: Scribner; Reissue edition
Pub. in: May, 1995
ISBN: 0684801221
Pages: 128
Measurements: 7.9 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA00455
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- Awards & Credential -
The author is the 1954 winner for Nobel Prize for literature, and The Old Man and the Sea is one of his best known works. |
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- MSL Picks -
Winner of the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature, Hemingway is also renowned for books such as A Farewell to Arms (1929) and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). But his classic 1952 Pulitzer Prize winning novella The Old Man and the Sea is one of his most accessible works. It recounts the battle of an old Cuban fisherman against the sea, during a fishing expedition filled with triumph and tragedy. After 84 fruitless days of fishing, Santiago finally hooks a huge 18 foot marlin which he battles for three days of personal suffering, only to lose his prize catch to sharks on his way to shore.
Although the plot can be summed up in just one sentence, Hemingway excels in creating a rich atmosphere in describing the old man's battle against nature and against himself. "Fish, you are going to have to die anyway. Do you have to kill me too?" By primarily referring to the protagonist as "the old man" instead of using his personal name Santiago, Hemingway emphasizes the human struggle, and touches on important themes about triumph in tragedy and human courage in struggle (although perhaps Hemingway gives too much credence to human pride as a motivation). In the beginning, the old man's sail is characterized as "the flag of permanent defeat." But despite losing his catch, there is a note of triumph at the end: "A man can be destroyed but not defeated." The young boy Manolin, the baseballer DiMaggio, and the lions of Santiago's youth all represent images of youth and strength that sustain the old man on his road of suffering toward this triumph.
The writing style is terse, easy-to-read, yet the resulting picture is tremendously powerful and beautiful in its simplicity. While a child can read The Old Man and the Sea, only adults will truly appreciate the symbolism of the sea in representing human trials, and Santiago's struggle in overcoming them. Some see Christ-like symbolism in Santiago's bleeding hands, and in the final journey of the defeated but triumphant old man carrying his mast up the hill, representing a spiritual triumph of a new life and resurrected respect for the old man attained through physical suffering and defeat. Certainly Santiago is explicitly identified with Christ when he makes "just a noise such as a man might make, involuntarily, feeling the nail go through his hands and into the woods." Others have interpreted the novella autobiographically after the failure of Hemingway's 1950 novel Across the River and Into the Trees, with the sharks representing Hemingway's critics.
In short, The Old Man and the Sea is a relatively quick and easy read, yet leaves you with a sense of depth that most modern fiction lacks. As a companion that can help increase appreciation for the book, check out the 1958 movie version starring Spencer Tracy, which sticks closely to the book and features lengthy quotations as part of the narrative.
(Quoting from Godly Gladfly, Canada)
Target readers:
General readers
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Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) was one of the expatriate writers of Paris along with F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gettrude Stein, and others. He fought in the Spanish Civil War and wrote A Farewell to Arms and other stories on war and its unseen costs, including For Whom the Bell Tolls. Other titles by Hemingway include A Moveable Feast and The Sun Also Rises.
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From the Publisher
The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingway's most enduring works. Told in language of great simplicity and power, it is the story of an old Cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordeal - a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. Here Hemingway recasts, in strikingly contemporary style, the classic theme of courage in the face of defeat, of personal triumph won from loss. Written in 1952, this hugely successful novella confirmed his power and presence in the literary world and played a large part in his winning the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature.
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He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy had been with him. But after forty days without a fish the boy's parents had told him that the old man was now definitely and finally salao, which is the worst form of unlucky, and the boy had gone at their orders in another boat which caught three good fish the first week. It made the boy sad to see the old man come in each day with his skiff empty and he always went down to help him carry either the coiled lines or the gaff and harpoon and the sail that was furled around the mast. The sail was patched with flour sacks and, furled, it looked like the flag of permanent defeat.
The old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck. The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish on the cords. But none of these scars were fresh. They were as old as erosions in a fishless desert.
Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated.
"Santiago," the boy said to him as they climbed the bank from where the skiff was hauled up. "I could go with you again. We've made some money."
The old man had taught the boy to fish and the boy loved him.
"No," the old man said. "You're with a lucky boat. Stay with them."
"But remember how you went eighty-seven days without fish and then we caught big ones every day for three weeks."
"I remember," the old man said. "I know you did not leave me because you doubted."
"It was papa made me leave. I am a boy and I must obey him."
"I know," the old man said. "It is quite normal."
"He hasn't much faith."
"No," the old man said. "But we have. Haven't we?"
"Yes," the boy said. "Can I offer you a beer on the Terrace and then we'll take the stuff home."
"Why not?" the old man said. "Between fishermen."
They sat on the Terrace and many of the fishermen made fun of the old man and he was not angry. Others, of the older fishermen, looked at him and were sad. But they did not show it and they spoke politely about the current and the depths they had drifted their lines at and the steady good weather and of what they had seen. The successful fishermen of that day were already in and had butchered their marlin out and carried them laid full length across two planks, with two men staggering at the end of each plank, to the fish house where they waited for the ice truck to carry them to the market in Havana. Those who had caught sharks had taken them to the shark factory on the other side of the cove where they were hoisted on a block and tackle, their livers removed, their fins cut off and their hides skinned out and their flesh cut into strips for salting.
When the wind was in the east a smell came across the harbour from the shark factory; but today there was only the faint edge of the odour because the wind had backed into the north and then dropped off and it was pleasant and sunny on the Terrace.
"Santiago," the boy said.
"Yes," the old man said. He was holding his glass and thinking of many years ago.
"Can I go out to get sardines for you for tomorrow?"
"No. Go and play baseball. I can still row and Rogelio will throw the net."
"I would like to go. If I cannot fish with you, I would like to serve in some way."
"You bought me a beer," the old man said. "You are already a man."
"How old was I when you first took me in a boat?"
"Five and you nearly were killed when I brought the fish in too green and he nearly tore the boat to pieces. Can you remember?"
"I can remember the tail slapping and banging and the thwart breaking and the noise of the clubbing. I can remember you throwing me into the bow where the wet coiled lines were and feeling the whole boat shiver and the noise of you clubbing him like chopping a tree down and the sweet blood smell all over me."
"Can you really remember that or did I just tell it to you?"
"I remember everything from when we first went together."
The old man looked at him with his sun-burned, confident loving eyes.
"If you were my boy I'd take you out and gamble," he said. "But you are your father's and your mother's and you are in a lucky boat."
"May I get the sardines? I know where I can get four baits too."
"I have mine left from today. I put them in salt in the box."
"Let me get four fresh ones."
"One," the old man said. His hope and his confidence had never gone. But now they were freshening as when the breeze rises.
"Two," the boy said.
"Two," the old man agreed. "You didn't steal them?"
"I would," the boy said. "But I bought these."
"Thank you," the old man said. He was too simple to wonder when he had attained humility. But he knew he had attained it and he knew it was not disgraceful and it carried no loss of true pride.
"Tomorrow is going to be a good day with this current," he said.
"Where are you going?" the boy asked.
"Far out to come in when the wind shifts. I want to be out before it is light."
"I'll try to get him to work far out," the boy said. "Then if you hook something truly big we can come to your aid."
"He does not like to work too far out."
"No," the boy said. "But I will see something that he cannot see such as a bird working and get him to come out after dolphin."
"Are his eyes that bad?"
"He is almost blind."
"It is strange," the old man said. "He never went turtle-ing. That is what kills the eyes."
"But you went turtle-ing for years off the Mosquito Coast and your eyes are good."
"I am a strange old man."
"But are you strong enough now for a truly big fish?"
"I think so. And there are many tricks."
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Elina Oliferovskiy (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
The Old Man and the Sea was my favorite from all the books I've read this year. It was written by Ernest Hemingway in in 1951. The story is called a novella because it is too long to be a short story, but too short to be called a novel. This book by Ernest Hemingway is so amazing though. Hemingway has the ability to write a story that makes your mind paint a picture. This book draws you in, and you feel like you're in the skiff with Santiago, rooting for the death of the marlin. Quoted from Zach Davisson, "This short novel is fierce, full of vibrant energy and humanity," and I would say that this is Hemingway's best work. At first the story seems like a standard "man against nature" tale, but unlike those kind of stories, this one has a more vivid battle, and a stronger point at the end. It is said that Hemingway's inspiration for the old man in the book, was the Cuban fisherman Gregorio Fuentes, who was also Hemingway's friend, but noe one really knows where Hemingway gets he extraoridnary ideas.
Although short, the book has a deep meaning. Sometimes people can just read a book without really seeing much of a point, but that only happens when people read the words, not the story. You have to know how to read right, in order to see the message in the book. One main theme I found while reading was to have courage in the face of defeat. Even though the Old man hadn't caught a fish in 84 days, he didn't give up. He continued to try and try. On day 85, he decides that, no matter what, he will not return with a catch. His waiting paid off though, because soon, he caught an enormous marlin. Santiago had to fight with the fish for three days before finally killing it. On the way back, the old man had more to worry about than just about keeping the fish tied to the boat. Sharks, hunger, and weakness tried to defeat the man, but he stayed strong. This book mainly portrays masculinity. Although the old man was very gentle, he knew when to use the power and strength that men have. He is so gentle though, that at one point in the book he wishes he "could feed the fish," and at another in the book he is "sorry for the fish that had nothing to eat." Later on in the story, he deeply grieves when the first shark mutilates the fish's beautiful body. Santiago has a very kind soul and loving heart too. He doesn't mind the fishermen who make fun of him, and he respects Manolin's father, even though he forbids the boy to fish with the old man and tells him to fish with someone else after forty fishless days with Santiago. The only time in the book when Santiago is violent, is when he killed the sharks which attacked his fish, but such actions, the only reason he did was to defend his "brother", the fish. Even in his dreams are gentle and pleasant. Santiago usually dreams of playful, not fierce, lions, and also, once of mating porpoises. I loved his easy- going, selfless, and thoughtful character, throughout the whole story.
The reason that I loved "The Old Man and the Sea" is because this book inspired me the most. It made me think of how the old man's life is the kind of live anyone would want. Although he is poor and lonely, he loves everyone around him no matter how much they discourage him, and he believes in himself enough to set out goals that seems unreachable. He knows that he can succeed in practically anything. The old man has everything he needs in this world: determination and strength. Santiago's battle was a very hard one, but no matter how hard it got, he never gave up Mainly, this story portrayed hope. Santiago created hope when there was none. He was strong when his body was weak. Santiago himself has said, "Man is not made for defeat... A man can be destroyed but not defeated."
The strength of his will is what keeps him going. It is all that holds his failing body together. Even though the old man's strength seemed a little over-exaggerated and unrealistic sometimes, the rest of the story has fixed that. The boy is a good example of a casual person, and the fish is just a casual fish.
This book has many different interpretations. To one person, this could be a story of how a man was so determined that he never gave up, not matter how much suffering he had to go through. Another person may think of this story as just another story of symbolism, because the old man, no matter how aged and hurt, had strength and bravery throughout the whole story.
While one person may this of this story as a story of success, another one might just label the old man as too desperate and obsessed, because he almost lost his life over catching a fish. To another person this story might portray that riches and wealth give nothing, and that a person can live a good life without any of that. To me, this story had a different meaning, but is similar to the first one. This story represents courage, trust, and love to me. It represents courage, because the old man had courage in times when most people fear. He had the courage to go out there, knowing he will succeed in his goals, and he rejected fear, doubt, and weakness. It represents trust, because the old man trusted himself. Sometimes, in a tough situation, people do things they normally wouldn't. Sometimes people say they would never do something, but at the end, they turn out to. Mothers who love their children, actually ate their children in times of starvation, and this is because of how their brain reacted. The old man knew that he could trust himself not to give up. He knew he would keep going no matter how back-breaking the work would be. He knew that he wouldn't betray himself and give up in the end, like many people do. It also represents love, because the old man loved his dream and hobby. Catching the marlin was his dream, and fishing was hobby. He loved the feeling of success, and self-respect, and so he loved the dream of catching the fish so much that he decided to go out and make it reality. I can really relate to this story, because many times, I suffer in order to get a reward at the end. Even though I don't actually get a reward, just like the old man didn't, I get respect, and it makes me feel better too. This story could have had a different ending, one that many people said they would have liked. Some think it would have been better if Santiago would have towed the enormous fish back to port and posed for a triumphal photograph, but instead his prize gets devoured by a school of sharks. Santiago returned home with little more than a skeleton, but that didn't mean anything to him. He was not fully defeated, and that made him feel proud. He didn't want credit or popularity, because he didn't care about any of those things. All he wanted was to finally succeed in catching a fish, and that's what happened. When he returned home, he went to bed and, dreamed about the lions.
I recommend this book to everyone. It is such an encouraging and outstanding story, and I think that everyone should get a change to read it. If you've read it, but you didn't find it touching or meaningful, then you've missed the point. I never knew that a story a little over 120 pages could have so much meaning, and teach you such great things. |
Bob (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
The old man and the sea indeed! Should have been titled the old man in a bowl of blood - fish blood that is. Wretched creature he is; disrespectful of the beautiful life around him, hacking and hacking, and hacking some more until he is surrounded by a sea of blood. And what a fool, for that blood may be diseased! Contaminated with a host of viruses, possibly AIDS or even hepatitis; soon they will attack his soul. The thought, the very thought of someone desiring to catch and eat the flesh of a fish - disgusting! How fish smell! How they remind one of the dried up, dirty, infected, genetalia of a sixty-three year old woman who still likes to partake in the carnal act but refuses to wash afterwards and lets the old, dried up, caked on semen dry until it smells as rancid as the fish the old man himself desires to catch.
A heck of a fish tale I must say. Five stars because I can't give it seven. |
Alysson Oliveria (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
The Old Man and the Sea was Ernest Hemingway's last novel published in life. Not only did this book give him a Pulitzer Prize, but it also cinched the Nobel Prize for him, awarded in 1954. Nevertheless, critics and scholars aren't unanimous to believe that this is best work. For many, in this book, Hemingway abandoned his realistic approach.
For many people this is an allegory of the writer's condition when he wrote the novella. Hemingway himself would be the `old man' being attacked by critics on a feeding frenzy. However much some people do believe in this interpretation - and they say that Hemingway's writing were based on his life experience, so why wouldn't this be? - this would be a very small interpretation.
In The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway found a middle shape that fits between his long novels and his short stories. In this novella, the writer takes his famous style to another level since he retains so much from his prose. Everything we know about his writing is there: the short and direct sentences are the best example. But in this novel the sentences aren't the only device that is short.
The novella `lacks' characters - actually, there are only two major characters and one of them is off the stage for most of the time. This is the `old man''s show. As character he is fully developed however we don't learn much about his past, but it doesn't take too much from Hemingway to tell us who somebody is - just some tips and we know.
The narrative is short and concentrates on a couple of days in the old man's life. The most dramatic moments -near the end - unfold beautifully. Throughout the book, Hemingway deals with someone struggling against defeat. The main character, Santiago, has gone eighty-four days without catching a fish. But he refuses to accept defeat: the old man sails out beyond the other fishermen in search for the biggest fish.
The Old Man and the Sea is a short book that doesn't take to much time to be read. On the other hand, it may stay with reader long after finishing. With his power of persuasion, Hemingway has created an unforgettable tale of love for life and honor.
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Julie (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
This book by Ernest Hemingway is amazing. This man has the ability to write a story while painting a picture with the scenes, and keeping the heart of a poet. Yet the entire time he does this while never allowing the reader to forget the author is male. It is a great book. In fact I recommend anything by this man. |
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