Old Man And The Sea (378 words)

Old Man And The Sea
The Old Man and the Sea was
written by Ernest Hemingway who was born July 21, 1899, in Oak Park, Illinois.

He later died of suicide in 1961 in Idaho. This book was awarded the Pulitzer
Prize in 1953, and Hemingway won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1954. He was
an ambulance driver in World War I and wrote many major works. CHARACTERS
Santiago, the main character, was a wise old Cuban fisherman who was very
experienced in the ways of the sea. Despite his age he had young eyes and great
determination to catch the Marlin. Santiago had to survive much pain and
loneliness to capture the Marlin The Marlin was eighteen feet long and purple
with stripes on his side. This fish eventually became Santiago’s brother. It
demonstrated its great skill and mobility by fighting for three days before
being caught. Manolin, a young boy, admired and learned how to fish from
Santiago. The boy was caring towards the old man and refused to allow Santiago
to fish alone again. PLOT Santiago had gone eighty-four days without catching a
fish, and Manolin’s family refused to allow the boy to fish with the old man
because they believed that he had bad luck. The night before the old man was
going to fish, the boy and the man talked baseball, which they both loved. The
next day Santiago caught a big marlin which started to drag the boat. The fish
continued to swim and did not seem to lose much energy. While it took three days
for the old man to catch the marlin, he had to catch other fish for nourishment.

Santiago’s hands were cut and bruised from the line; his back was extremely
sore, and he was acting strangely, talking and arguing with himself. Then on the
way back to the village, sharks ate the marlin despite the old man’s trying
everything to stop them. After the long trip home, Santiago was exhausted but
was considered a hero by the village people after they measured the length of
the fish’s skeleton. The boy was worried and promised to always go with
Santiago from then on. SETTING This book takes place in Cuba in the 1940’s.

The story continues over the course of three days. Distinguishing
Characteristics Hemingway’s style of writing is direct and terse. He
challenges the reader to think about human emotions and courage.