Inspect The Old Man And The Sea (Timeless Literature Collection) Created By Ernest Hemingway File Paper Edition
lot of people will hate me for this but I fucking haaaaaate The Old Man and the Sea, It was so boring and yeah I get it, it's an allegory, I don't fucking care. Oh, my good lord in heaven, Cut your line, land your boat and go to McDonald's! Just as in the case of The Great Gatsby, I understand the book.
Yes, I know it changed the way American writers write, I also understand that it celebrates the ridiculous American idea that you're only a REAL man if you've done something entirely purposeless, but really dangerous, in pursuit of making yourself look like the bull with the biggest sexual equipment.
Get over it, already! Go home and clean out the refrigerator, or wash the curtains, or vacuum under the furniture, Pick your kids up from school or take your daughter bra shopping, THAT would impress me. Being too dumb to cut your fishing line Not the mate I would pick, . .
The only bright spot about the book is if you think of it on a metaphorical level: there is a point at which ALL of us must grit our teeth and hold on in the face of despair.
That is the definition of life, However, if that's the point, then the plot situation needs to be one of necessity like the shipwreck in Life of Pi, instead of stubbornness.
It's been a while since I wrote this review, and there's a lot of amusing speculation in the comments people have attached.
I have to say, they crack me up, Here's my final word on reviewing on Goodreads or anywhere One of the most important elements of reading is that it allows each of us to react in the way we need to react, without judgment, as we experience the book.
This is how I reacted to The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway is dead, or I wouldn't have been so upfront with my opinion, He's not insulted, I understand that we all need goals in life, and I've been happily married for a LONG time, Now take a deep breath and smile, Life is too short to be anxious about picayune stuff like this,
It is intimidating to offer a truly critical look at such a classic, so we will ease into it with a few images.
The GOP has offered us a readymade item to begin this list, and yes, I know that John Stewart already snagged this one and threw it back.
I turned up a visual art concept that fits in, for a restaurant based on EH themes:
Although I did not sit for this photo, the resemblance is indeed striking
And, of course
The Old Man and the Cee Lo.
I suppose am certain there are plenty more images one might lure into our net, but sticking to words for a bit, we will pass on the porn offering, The Old Man and the Semen.
How about the moving tale of a Navy Construction veteran, The Old Man and the Seabees, or an obstetrical episode of Grey's Anatomy, The Old Man and the CSection.
Then there might be a psychological drama about a man with bipolar disorder, The Old Man and the See Saw, or a book about an elderly acupuncturist, The Old Man and the Chi.
How about a Disney adventure in which Paul Hogan rescues a pinniped, yes, gentle reader, The Old Man and the Seal, Maybe a bit of Cuban selfaffirmation, The Old Man and the Si, I could go on, of course, and probably will, at home, until my wife threatens to leave, The possibilities are rather endless, But the Geneva Conventions might be brought into play, and we cant have that, Tackling such a review head on seems, somehow, wrong, like using paint by number to copy the Mona Lisa, carving the Pieta out of gigantic blocks of cheddar, writing a love poem for your beloved using MadLibs or At some point, though, I guess you have to, you know, fish or cut bait,
I struggled mightily with this one, finding a hook, then having it pull away, grabbing hold of an idea and watching it disappear beneath waves of uncertainty.
I tried waiting a while, resting between attempts, losing myself in other contemplations, Smiling a bit, but always hoping for something I could finally yank aboard, Notions of religious connections, Papas
personal philosophy, and storytelling technique all pulled in diverse directions, As you will see, it was a not a simple contest, And I am not certain that what I ultimately caught is all that filling,
He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eightyfour days now without taking a fish.So opens The Old Man and the Sea, the book, we hear tell, that convinced the Nobel committee to reel in EGH with the biggest literary hook of them all.
In the first forty days a boy had been with him, But after forty days without a fish the boys parents had told him that the old man was now definitely and finally salao, which is the worst form of unlucky.
Santiago is an old, unlucky, but skilled Cuban fisherman, He has an able assistant, the young Manolin, The lad is not a blood relation, but he sees a father figure in the old man, and he may be a younger reflection of the old man himself.
Maybe Santiago sees himself in the young man and takes some strength from that, Like the best sort of father, he teaches the boy to fish rather than fishing for him, But Santiagos ill fortune has marked him as someone to be avoided and Manolins parents have put the kibosh on their professional association.
The old man is determined to salvage his reputation, and his honor, and bring in some money by going farther out than the other fishermen are willing to sail, in search of redemption.
No herald calls him to action, No dramatic event sparks him to excessive risk, It is an internal challenge that powers his engines, But it is a quest nonetheless on which Santiago embarks,
Any time there are fish involved, one might presume a degree of soul saving, I do not know enough Hemingway to have a take on whether or not that figured here, I raise it only as a passing thought, But the second sentence of the book offers a hint, “In the first forty days”clearly places Santiagos travails alongside another person who spent forty days in a different barren environment, It was after being baptized that Jesus spent his time in the desert, preparing for what awaited, Is Santiago to be tested here Will he be offered a route away from his difficult path
The waters are becalmed.
Nothing moves. A moment, then, for a digression, OK, lets try some simple arithmetic, if Jesus, at age, spentdays in the desert, and Santiago has gonedays in his version of the desert, just how old is the old man, according to my calculations.
Possible. I do not recall seeing an actual age noted, so I am gonna go with that, I know you guys will let me know if an actual age is revealed somewhere and my squinty geezer eyes missed it.
Done. I can feel a slight breeze beginning to flutter the sail,
Some sort of religion seems to flow through this fish tale, Not only are we sprinkled with fortyday references, but Santiago discusses sin, In his struggles he suffers physical damage in which some might see an echo of Calvary, But I think that is a stretch, personally, So, we have a bit of religion, and a quest, What is Santiago questing for Redemption would fit in nicely, Having failed for a long time, he feels a need to redeem himself in the eyes of his community, Maybe not a religious thing, per se, but swimming in the same waters, And speaking of religion, water as a baptismal element is always a possibility, although somewhat diluted here, as Santiago makes his living on the water.
The old man is strong, skilled and determined, Maybe it is his character that is at issue, Maybe somehow, taking on this challenge is a way to prove to himself that he is truly a man, He goes about his business, and his fishing is his fate, maybe even his life, It is in how he handles himself when faced with this challenge that will show us the sort of person he is, a common Hemingway theme, and he does just that.
This is a very short novel, more, maybe, a novella or large short story, But it has the feel of a parable, There is definitely something going on here even if it keeps slipping out of my analytical net,
I was reminded of another wellknown fish story, Moby Dick really, allow a little literary license here people, Yes I know the whale is not a fish, Geez. . Whereas in that one, the fisherman, Ahab, sets himself against the whale, and therefore either fate or god, seeing a personal enemy, Santiago sees the fish as his brother, a fellow creature in the universe acting out his part.
The challenge is always about oneself and not about the external enemy, or rival, In fact, the fish and Santiago are both victimized, together, by the sharks that feast on his catch,
Then he was sorry for the great fish that had nothing to eat and his determination to kill him never relaxed in his sorrow for him.One might be forgiven for seeing here a possible reference to catholic communion and the relative merit of so many of those who receive.
How many people will he feed, he thought, But are they worthy to eat him No, of course not, There is not one worthy of eating him from the manner of his behaviour and his great dignity,
Is the fish a Christian symbol if there ever was one meant to be Jesus or some other form of deity, as Moby was
Could it be that Hemingways notion of religion is less Christian and more a sort of materialist as in nonspiritual, not as in accumulating stuff philosophy Lacking the proper tackle for that I will leave such considerations to those who have spent more time than I trolling Hemingways waters.
The writing is mostly either thirdperson description or the old mans internal, and sometimes spoken, dialogue, Regardless of the literary ambitions splashing about here, the story is about a very sympathetic character, Santiago is a man not only of physical strength, but moral character, He is not portrayed as a saint, but as a simple man, maybe even, in a way, an ideal man in his simplicity.
He knows his place in the world, faces the challenges that world presents to him and using only his skill, intelligence, strength and determination, overcomes or not.
It is easy to climb on board as a Santiago supporter, He is a fellow who is very much a part of the world, even as he contemplates larger things,
The Old Man and the Sea is a small story, but it is a whale of a tale, If you have not fished these waters before, dont let this be one of those that got away,
WB
UPDATES
Jeffrey Keeten sent along this sitelinkamazing link, Gary Wyatt had shared it with him, It will definitely make you smile
I discovered that one of the images I used had vanished into the ether, so I substituted another
I just came across a really wonderful piece about Hemingway, this book in particular, by Joe Fassler, in The Atlantic sitelinkThe Hemingway Scene That Shows How Humanity Works, in which he interviews novelist Téa Obreht about the unexpected lions in this book Great stuff.
Check it out. .