The Old Man And The Sea

 

 The Old Man And The Sea, by Ernest Hemingway, is a story about an old Cuban fisherman, who set out to sea, and returned empty handed. For the first 40 days, Santiago had Manolin with him, Manolin was Santiago's fishing assistant, until Manolin's parents forced him to work on a more successful boat. Manolin still continued to care for Santiago each night when he returned. Manolin would help put gear away, secure food for him, and talk with Santiago about American baseball, especially the old man's hero, Joe DiMaggio. The next day Santiago was confident that his unlucky fishing will finally come to an end, so he planed to sail out further than usual. On the 85th day of his unlucky streak, Santiago sailed out further into the Gulf Stream and ended up catching a marlin. He hooked the fish but wasn't able to pull it in. Instead, he held the line with his bare hands, and let the fish drag the boat until it got tired. After three days of being dragged, the marlin tired. Santiago was able to pull in the marlin and kill it with a harpoon thrust. The marlin was tied beside the skiff, dead, but left a trail of blood. Sharks began to follow, Santiago couldn't hold them off for long so the marlin was eaten and Santiago headed back home. When he arrived, he hung the skeleton and put his gear away. Manolin was worried sick, but found Santiago asleep dreaming about lions.
  The theme I chose for the book is pride. "Humility was no disgrace and it carried no loss of true pride" (pg. 14). Santiago had not caught a fish for 84 days but even though it was humiliating he still had pride. "Beyond all people in the world, to catch a marlin" (pg. 50). Santiago felt strong, confident, and proud that he finally caught a fish. "The hell with luck, said Santiago" (pg. 125). What Santiago meant was that luck will not bring him a fish, but feeling confident and proud will. Pride is a theme I noticed in the book and that is the theme I chose.

     In my opinion, The Old Man And The Sea is a great book. If you like fishing, friendship and confidence, this book is good for you. Also, it is a pretty short book which most of you would look for. This book also inspires readers to not give up, and that even if you fall you can always get back up. This book was a great book, I would recommend it.

I got the picture from: Google.com