The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (Post 1)

SI wanted to have a change of pace and read a more laid back book. One that causes you to think, like The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (Reveiw earlier blog posts). So my mother actually introduced me to this novel. At first I was skeptical, since it is different then what I usually read, but my love of reading drove me into reading it. So far I am pretty impressed with this novel, it causes me to think and it has some pretty good characterization of the Old Man which is the main character.

"They were strange shoulders, still powerful although very old, and the neck was still strong too and the creases did not show so much when the old man was asleep and his head fallen forward. His shirt had been patched so many times that it was like the sail and the patches were faded to many different shades my the sun. The old man's head was very old though and with his eyes closed there was no lift in his face." (Hemingway, 18-19) The physical description of this book really brings out our imagination of what he looks like. Although there is a picture of him on the cover our minds wander. The description to me makes the Old Man sound like my grandfather, old yet strong. Which seems odd in many ways yet the way he lives as a poor fisherman wakes him seem noble with the description of his anatomy, seeming to me like a wise old king, like the one in The Alchemist. When his faded cloths make him seem humble and easy living, only taking what he needs and never more.

"But after forty days without fish the boy's parents had told him that the old man was now definitely salao, which is the worst form of unlucky... 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..." (Hemingway, 1) Others characters, like the boy, care about the Old Man for after the man's hard day fishing and coming back with nothing the boy help carry his stuff. Also other people later in the story help him be giving him food and lending him necessities. Other characters think he may be really unlucky and not care for him, for they believe it is his own fault, like the boy's parents. Yet the boy still cares and that shows true character in him, and the Old Man. "Where did you wash? the boy thought. The village water supply was two streets down the road. I must have water here for him, the boy thought, and soap and a good towel. Why am I so thoughtless? I must get him another shirt and a jacket for the winter and some sort of shoes and another blanket.' (Hemingway, 20) You see here the boy really does care for this man and wants to get him so many things and help in any and as much ways as he can. By getting him water to wash up, and new cloths for the winter for the Old Man to wear along with new shoes. As well as a new blanket, for the old man only owns one. 

"'I thanked him already,' the boy said. 'You don't need to thanks him.'
'I'll give him the belly meat of a big fish,' the old man said. 'Has he done this for us more than once?'
'I think so."
'I must give him something more than the belly meat then. He is very thoughtful for us.'" (Hemingway, 20) The boy went to the store to get some food for them to eat together for dinner. After the Old Man hears of this he feels bad for "taking" the stores food even when it was given to them. So he says he will pay him back the only way he can which is with the best meat of the fish, the belly. And since the store has done it more than once, he plans on giving him something better than the belly of a fish and he doesn't say what it is. The Old Man is grateful for the help.

A site that breaks down the novel into many life lessons it teaches.
Life Lessons for The Old Man and the Sea 

A article about the novel over all and book base all from the NY times.
NY times book look over