Sunday, November 3, 2013

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (Post 2)

I'm so upset I haven't been able to finish this novel yet. Yet since it's just a page or two here or there then I can focus on what Mr. Hemingway is saying. In the beginning I didn't really think this a novel a very deep descriptive book. But as I reached the middle it has started to become more laid back and more into imagery and figurative language. Such as the sky over the sea and the fish below the sea.
"He looked at the sky and saw the white cumulus built like friendly piles of ice cream and high above were the thin feathers of the cirrus against the high September sky." (Hemingway, 61) In this small quote there is many forms of figurative language used. Like when the clouds were described as piles of ice cream, in the form of a simile. As well as when the cirrus clouds were described as thin feathers in the form of a metaphor. Yet there is even more, it states "friendly ice cream" which is personification, when the ice cream has the ability to be friendly, which isn't possible.

As later in the book the author describes the fish that the Old Man is after. "He was bright in the sun and his head and back were dark purple and in the sun the stripes on his sides showed wide and a light lavender. His sword was as long as a baseball bat and tapered like a rapier and he rose his full length from the water and then re-entered it, smoothly, like a diver and the old man saw the great scythe-blade of his tail go under and the line commenced to race out." (Hemingway, 62-63) This image of this great fish in my head makes it look so grand and amazing.  The way the sun slides off him causes us to think of a gift from god. His nose large as a baseball bat, bringing in size, and as sharp as a rapier, adding a sense of danger. Yet elegant like a diver, with such contrast this fish seems to be a prefect fish. Also with a contributing color of purple, which represents royalty, wealthy, magic, a mystery. Since the description of the fish causes me to think of this the color fits the fish perfectly.  Purple also represents imagination and high ideals, which are the thoughts of the fishers with his hopes for a high-score fish and how he would imagine one as such, which it is more than he imagined.



A page that has an overview, and reviews, it also explains the deep meaning of this book and more.
About page for Novel 

An animated story that is close to and inspired by the book The Old Man and the Sea