The Catcher in the Rye Holden Caulfield

             I have changed courses on the novel I will be blogging on.  I am now reading The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.  I am currently on chapter four and so far like the novel.  In most novels, the first couple of chapters tend to be boring because the author is trying to set the foundation for the rest of the novel. 

            From the first page of The Catcher in the Rye, you are able to see that it is going to be a different read than you are used to.  I say this because the very first sentence shocked me.  “If you really want to hear about it the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth” (Salinger 1).  Most authors start their novels out with exactly what Holden said.  You do not start to really learn about Holden until the second chapter. 

            Holden Caulfield is seventeen years old, who usually acts like he is around the age of twelve or thirteen.  He lives in New York.  “I’m six foot two and a half and I have gray hair” (Salinger 9).  Holden towers over many of the people he meets, which is a lot because he cannot stay put in one school for very long.  It is very peculiar that a seventeen year old has gray hair.  The gray hair started to appear on the right side of his head when he was a kid and it kept spreading.  Holden Caulfield is the type of person who does not like to apply themselves in school.  He has a lousy vocabulary because he does not feel like extending it.  At Pencey, the school he was attending, Holden flunked four out of the five classes he was taking.  The only class he did not fail was English and that was because he knew the criteria being taught.  A previous school had already gone over it.

Salinger, J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Boston: Little, Brown, 1951. Print.

The Old Man and the Sea Religion

            “What symbols of religion did Ernest Hemingway use in The Old Man and the Sea?”  In this novel, he used several references to Christ and how he died on the cross. 

            While out at sea, Santiago is trying to keep the sharks away from eating his fifteen hundred pound marlin that is tied to the side of his skiff.  When the second wave of sharks comes, the old man says “Ay” (Hemingway 107).  “There is no translation for this word and perhaps it is just a noise such as a man might make, involuntarily, feeling the nail go through his hands and into the wood” (Hemingway 107).  In your mind you picture a man being nailed to wood, which is exactly how Jesus Christ died.  He had nails in his hands and feet that were attached to a wooden cross.

Being a fisherman, Santiago has to be able to carry all of his belongings from his shack to his skiff.  His belongings consist of a sail, mast, and “the wooden box with the coiled, hard-braided brown lines, the gaff and the harpoon with its shaft” (Hemingway 15).  “The mast was nearly as long as the one room of the shack” (Hemingway 15).  Can you imagine being an old, skinny man trying to haul a mast that is almost as big as a shack from the harbor up a hill?  This alone is a big task.  Try doing this after battling a marlin for three days straight.  The old man got back from his fishing trip and had to bring his mast up to his shack.  “He shouldered the mast and started to climb” (Hemingway 121).  On his way up the hill, Santiago “had to sit down five times before he reached his shack” (Hemingway 121).  This symbolizes Christ’s walk with the cross.  He fell many times but kept getting right back up even though he hurt and was tired.

            After reaching his shack after his struggle with the mast, Santiago collapsed in his bed of newspapers.  “He slept face down on the newspapers with his arms out straight and the palms of his hands up” (Hemingway122).  This position of the old man shows how Jesus Christ died on the cross, arms out straight with his palms facing up. 

           

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

The Old Man and the Sea Quotes

            In the pages of The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway threw in a couple very important quotes.  Our job as the readers is to locate these quotes. 

            “He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of great occurrences, nor of great fish, nor fights, nor contests of strength, nor of his wife. He only dreamed of places now and of the lions on the beach. They played like young cats in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy” (Hemingway 25).  Santiago was thinking this the night before he was scheduled to depart for his fishing trip.  He was saying that the only thing he dreamed about were lions on the beach.  This dream came up in the novel around three times.  I believe that the lions came up twice while Santiago was out at sea in his little skiff.  “The lions here are at play and thus suggest a time of youth and ease” (Sparknotes).  Dreaming of the lions calmed Santiago down.

            “Then the fish came alive, with his death in him, and rose high out of the water showing all his great length and width and all his power and his beauty. He seemed to hang in the air above the old man in the skiff. Then he fell into the water with a crash that sent spray over the old man and over all of the skiff” (Hemingway 94).  The death of the marlin is the climax of The Old Man and the Sea and is the most vital part of the novel.  It is also my favorite part of the novel because killing that fish was such a big feat for a gaunt and skinny old man.  The old man also metaphorically died.  It happened on his way home to the harbor when the marlin was destroyed by a series of sharks.  All eighteen feet of the marlin was picked clean. 

 Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

"The Old Man and the Sea." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 11 June 2012. 

The Old Man and the Sea Question 8

            I am answering the very last question of the eight questions. The question is “How accurately does this novel reflect events in history?”  To be honest, I do not know of any events in history reflected in The Old Man and the Sea.  The novel takes place in Cuba in the 1940s.  What I found in The Old Man and the Sea was an old man who loved to fish.  The only thing I read that was not something that Ernest Hemingway made up was the various things about Joe DiMaggio. 

“Think of the great DiMaggio” (Hemingway 17).  Santiago was talking to Manolin about baseball one day after coming in from fishing.  Baseball has been a popular sport for many decades and the old man just happened to enjoy it greatly.  “I have yesterday’s paper and I will read the baseball” (Hemingway 17).  I believe that baseball is one of the things that kept Santiago sane while battling the marlin.  While in his skiff he was thinking about the baseball games that were happening in the United States.  “I wonder how the baseball came out in the grand leagues today, he thought” (Hemingway 48). 

In The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway talks very little about the various groups of people.  Successful and unsuccessful fishermen were the only group of people that Hemingway described in his novel.  “The successful fishermen of that day were already in and had butchered their marlin” (Hemingway 11).  Santiago knew he was not a successful fisherman because he had not caught a single fish for over eighty days.  Manolin’s parents said that the old man was “salao, which is the worst form of unlucky” (Hemingway 9).  Even though his parents told him he should not be fishing with Santiago, he still wants to spend time with him. 

            I believe that the reason why Ernest Hemingway wrote about fishing and baseball because those were his hobbies. 

 Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

The Old Man and the Sea Question 6

Most people ask themselves, “Why do we still read this book?”  For starters, the main reason why we still read most classics is because the teachers have all the tests, study guides, and the knowledge of them.  For example, we read Othello second semester in English 232 because Mrs. Oh had all the information on it already.  Teachers also know what to expect from students so they are able to teach the literature better.  

The Old Man and the Sea is a classic that people have been reading for over a decade.  The story is of a poor, weak man who has had bad luck for over eighty days and still has not given up.  Just right there is an accomplishment.  The old man, Santiago decides to go out farther in the Gulf of Mexico than he usually does.  Out there, he hooks a fifteen hundred pound purple and silver marlin.  For three days, Santiago struggles to reel him in with only his body and fishing line.  Finally, the old man is able to end the battle by sticking a harpoon into the belly of the fish.  On the way back to shore, the eighteen foot marlin is eating by several different species of sharks.  Santiago arrives in the harbor just as he had left, empty handed. 

My point of view on why we still read this is because of its message.  Even though the old man could have given up, he did not.  He stuck with what he loved even if it did not reward him with anything.  Coming home empty handed for eighty- four days is definitely a debbie downer.  My mom always tells me “Never give up on what you love because eventually it will reward you.”  Santiago did not throw in the towel and he was rewarded with a stunning sea creature.  Although the marlin was destroyed by sharks, he still brought home his pride in himself for catching it. 

I found a quote that sums up the message, which we can learn from, in this novel.  “Don't ever give up on something or someone that you can't go a full day without thinking about” (Quotes).  I think it is pretty self explanatory.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

"Quotes." Thinkexist.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 June 2012. 

The Old Man and the Sea Question 5

Okay so I am at the question, “How does this novel reflect the history, behavior, and social issues of the time period and setting?” The Old Man and the Sea was written in 1951 in Cuba by Ernest Hemingway.  Although the novel was written in 1951, its time period is in the 1940s.  At this time in the United States, World War II was still going on and the Great Depression had just ended.  Also during this time period people were very racist.  I don’t know how much different Cuba was from the United States at this time, but I know racism was a worldwide thing and it still is today.  In The Old Man and the Sea, I did not see any racism remarks, which I am very glad. 

Like I said before in on of my previous blogs, Santiago uses a boatload of Spanish words.  Cuba is a Spanish country.  “The official language of Cuba is Spanish and the vast majority of Cubans speak it” (Cuba). This explains why Santiago uses Spanish.  While researching Cuba, I came across something I found very interesting.  “Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city” ().  I found it blog worthy because the old man’s name is Santiago.  It makes me wonder if he was named after the Cuban city. 

The main symbol in The Old Man and the Sea is the striking, stunning marlin.  The creature of a fish brought out the best qualities of Santiago that he usually does not show.  They are strength, courage, love, and respect. “After the marlin is hooked, but before Santiago sees him, the old man thinks the fish ‘is wonderful. … Never have I had such a strong fish nor one who acted so strangely. … He cannot know that it is only one man against him, nor that it is an old man. But what a great fish he is’” (Oliver).

"Cuba." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 15 June 2012. Web. 15 June 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba>.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

Oliver, Charles M. "The Old Man and the Sea." Critical Companion to Ernest Hemingway: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. 15 June 2012.

"The Old Man and the Sea." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 11 June 2012. 

The Old Man and the Sea Question 7

Most novels we have to read for English tend to be a tad boring.  Surprisingly, I enjoyed reading The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway.  Hemingway was able to engage me by his writing techniques, the words he used and giving information. 

In the novel, Hemingway uses dialogue in different scenarios.  Santiago has conversations with Manolin but also with himself.  This allows you to see how he is feeling. I think it would be a good thing to keep you sane by talking to yourself.  Most people would think you were crazy. “’If the others heard me talking out loud they would think I am crazy,’ he said aloud.  ‘But since I am not crazy, I do not care.’”  Santiago does not think he is crazy and I don’t think so either.  Talking to himself helped him to stay with the marlin and not give up.  

Throughout the novel, Ernest Hemingway threw in Spanish words.  The words are italicized in the sentences.  You have to use context clues to figure out what they mean.  There are around twenty or so italicized Spanish words.  A couple of them are “dentuso” (Hemingway 103), “dorado” (Hemingway 74), “guano” (Hemingway 15) and “juegos” (Hemingway 68).  “Dentuso” means shark, “dorado” means dolphin, “guano” translates to shack and “juegos” means games.  So along with reading a classic, you are getting a Spanish lesson.

The last thing is, is Hemingway gives us tidbits of information.  “A turtle’s heart will beat for hours after he has been cut up and butchered” (Hemingway 37).  I had no clue that was true until I read this sentence.  “Shark liver oil was very good against all colds and grippes and it was good for the eyes” (Hemingway 37).  I am definitely going to have to find some shark liver oil. 

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

The Old Man and the Sea Question 4

As we all know, Santiago is the hero in The Old Man and the Sea.  He is the only character in the novel that is talked about enough to be the hero.  The old man is considered to be the hero because of his confidence, inner strength, and commitment. 

From the first page of the novel, you are able to see that Santiago wants to end is bad luck streak of eighty-four days.  To stick with something that long without getting any benefit out of it takes some commitment.  Commitment is sticking with something you love even if some days are not the best.  I cannot imagine fishing for eighty-four days, forty of which were by myself, and not catching a single fish.

  Even through the tough, long, uneventful days, Santiago’s confidence never faltered.  “His hope and confidence had never gone” (Hemingway 13).  That is a great quality in a hero.  He accomplished many things because of his confidence.  Catching a fifteen thousand pound marlin is a nice prize after over eighty days of no catch brought in.  Along with confidence, he had pride in himself.  When he hooked that fish, his pride was automatically boosted.  “Then he felt the gentle touch on the line and he was happy” (Hemingway 43). 

Santiago is portrayed through the marlin.  The marlin did not give up on breaking free of the fishing hook for three days.  He kept going just like the old man.  The sharp hook in his mouth was just like the fishing line that Santiago was holding.  It would cut, tear, and injure them.  “Each jerk widens the cut the hook makes” (Hemingway 54).  Every time the fish lurched, the hole where the hook was would widen.  If it got to big, the hook could slip out and Santiago would lose the fish.

Santiago represents a person with inner strength.  Even though he looks frail and old on the outside, his strength on the inside makes up for it. 

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

The Old Man and the Sea Question 3

There are a couple of themes in The Old Man and the Sea that I would like to point out.  They are unity, the honor in struggle, and pride.

1. Unity: Let’s see here.  Unity is the state of being one.  In The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago and the marlin become one in their three day struggle.  By uniting these two, Hemingway was able to show friend and enemy and life and death.  Multiple times throughout the novel, Santiago expressed his love and friendship to the marlin.  “’The fish is my friend too,’ he said aloud. “I have to never seen or heard of such a fish. But I must kill him’” (Hemingway 75).  “’Fish,’ he said, ‘I love you and respect you very much’” (Hemingway 54).
2. The honor in struggle:  We all know that Santiago struggles with the marlin before he finally stabs him with the harpoon to end its life.  I have stated that in my past blogs a bunch of times.  I am proud of Santiago for not giving up because he did not feel good or have the strength for most of the time.  “The old man felt faint and sick and he could not see well” (Hemingway 94).  It takes a hard working man to not throw the towel in when you feel like that.  When I am sick, I do not want to do anything let alone fight a fifteen hundred pound marlin in a small boat. 
3. Pride:  Santiago has pride in himself the first time he sees the purple and silver marlin jump out of the water.  “The line rose slowly and steadily and then the surface of the ocean bulged ahead of the boat and the fish came out” (Hemingway 62) Even though he loses his great catch to sharks, he still has pride when he gets back to shore with only the skeleton of his eighteen foot marlin.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

The Old Man and the Sea Question 2

In The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago decides to sail farther out than he has ever been.  Because of this, he is able to catch an eighteen foot long and a fifteen hundred pound marlin.  For three long, grueling days in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, Santiago struggles to beat the marlin.  All the old man has is fishing line and his skinny, gaunt body.  He is extremely weak from not having enough money to purchase food to eat, but manages to find the strength within him to catch the fish.  The conflict of The Old Man and the Sea is the battle of Santiago and the beautiful marlin for the three days. 

The causes of this conflict come from the choices Santiago made.  For eighty-four days, he had not caught a fish so obviously he wanted to end that streak.  He told himself that he would go farther than he usually does and therefore be able to find a great catch.  Once he hooked the heavy and strong fish, which the old man did not know what kind until it jumped, his mood changed.  Santiago became grateful that the fish chose his sardines to eat from his hook.  To kill the marlin, he shoved a harpoon into its side.  “The old man dropped the line and put his foot on it and lifter the harpoon as high as he could and drove it down with all his strength into the fish’s side just behind the great chest fin that rose high in the air to the altitude of the man’s chest” (Hemingway 94).  After the death of the marlin, he felt regret that he “killed this fish, which is my brother” (Hemingway 95). 

Everything in nature is either a gain or a loss and Santiago experiences both of these.  He gained the marlin as a beautiful treasure, but lost it to the powerful teeth of sharks.  The sharks gained the fish as a meal to subdue their hunger.  The old man gained accomplishment and experience even though he sailed back to the harbor empty handed.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

The Old Man and the Sea Question 1

            The Old Man and the Sea was written by Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Cuba ().  He grew up loving to fish, which helped to set the story for The Old Man and the Sea.  Hemingway wrote a piece in the Esquire, a men's magazine, in 1936 where a Cuban fisherman was dragged in his boat out to sea by a marlin.  The fisherman became delirious and unaware of his surroundings after capturing the great fish.  Sadly, the marlin was destroyed by sharks before he was discovered by fellow fishermen.  This also helped to create the story of Santiago in The Old Man and the Sea. 

            The Old Man and the Sea revealed Ernest Hemingway's values through the writing.  The three values I chose to represent Ernest Hemingway go hand in hand with each other.  They are commitment, endurance, and perseverance.  I selected commitment because he composed a story of Santiago doing the thing he loved the most, fishing.  He did not give up on fishing even though he had bad luck for an extended period of time.  Endurance is the ability to keep going even if in pain.  Hemingway values endurance because writing takes a great amount of work.  He endured through the stress and writer's block, while Santiago dealt with the cuts and soreness.  The last one is perseverance.  Ernest persevered through the writing as well.  In the story, Santiago would not throw in the towel with fishing no matter what. 

            Along with values, the novel also allowed us to see Hemingway's attitude.  What I got from his writing was that he thought life is a struggle.  My dad said a line that really made sense.  "Life is a struggle and once you attain it, pieces keep breaking off." Santiago fought with marlin for three days and finally killing it.  On the way back to the harbor, sharks destroyed the fish. 

            The Old Man and the Sea is narrated by an anonymous narrator.  The narrator describes the characters and events from an outsider's observance most of the time.  Sometimes the narrator includes us in on Santiago's inner thoughts and dreams.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

"The Old Man and the Sea." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 11 June 2012. 

The Old Man and the Marlin

            In the novel, The Old Man and the Sea, Satiago decided to sail his boat farther out than he usually goes.  He thought going farther may bring him some luck.  After eighty-four days, he needed some help.  Santiago did his usual routine of casting his line and making sure to keep it straight so it would not drift.  During his first day out on the water, he ended his bad luck streak by catching a fish.  “He saw one of the projecting green sticks dip sharply” (Hemingway 41).  Santiago did not know what kind of fish that he had seized until it jumped out of the water.  It was a “dark purple” marlin with “stripes on his sides showed wide and a light lavender” (Hemingway 62).  “He’s over fifteen hundred pounds the way he is” (Hemingway 97) and "eighteen feet from nose to tail" (Hemingway 122). 

            I live on a small lake where we are able to fish.  When we go out on our lake and fish, it is a lot of work to pull in a one to three pound fish let alone a fifteen hundred pound fish.  Sometimes the line even snaps if the fish is too heavy for the line.  Santiago did have heavy duty fishing line used especially for large fish.  This seems a little unrealistic because he does not have any equipment except the fishing line and his body.  We have fishing poles and nets.  The boats that go deep sea fishing are usually twenty-six to one hundred feet.  The old man’s skiff is around sixteen feet. (Oliver)   He is also by himself, whereas other boats have a crew of two or more people.  The deep sea fishing boats have humongous hooks to catch fifty to a hundred and fifty pound fish.  I think Ernest Hemingway exaggerated just a little bit on the size and weight of the marlin.  That is almost impossible to have.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

Oliver, Charles M. "The Old Man and the Sea." Critical Companion to Ernest Hemingway: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc.

The Old Man and the Sea Descriptions

            One thing that catches my eye when reading a novel, are the in depth descriptions given by the author.  In The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway did a fantastic job of doing just that.  For example, “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 again the high September sky” (Hemingway 61).   This sentence made me stop and read it again.  It put an image in my mind of a beautiful day with big, white, fluffy clouds in the blue sky.  Saying it looked like ice cream put a smile on my face, which is always a good thing.  Also it informed me of some of the types of clouds, cirrus and cumulus. 

            Another quote that made me stop was, “Nothing showed on the surface of the water but some patches of yellow, sun-bleached Sargasso weed and the purple, formalized , iridescent, gelatinous bladder of a Portuguese man-of-war floating close beside the boat” (Hemingway 35).  After reading this, I went on the internet and looked up both Sargasso weed and Portuguese man-of-war.  That way I could prove the image in my mind of both things.  Sargasso weed is yellow and usually clumps together in the water.  The bladder of the Portuguese man-of-war is a gas filled sac that floats on the surface of the water while the rest of its body stays underwater (Portuguese).  Santiago saw the “purple, formalized, iridescent, gelatinous bladder. 

            The last description I am going to state is “He could picture the fish swimming in the water with his purple pectoral fins set wide as wings and the great erect tail slicing through the dark” (Hemingway 67).  This described the beautiful marlin that Santiago battled with for three days.  You are able to picture the fish jumping far out of the ocean to show off his strength and sleekness. Using descriptive words helps to create images in the readers minds.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

"Portuguese Man O' War." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 8 June 2012. 

The Old Man

            As you first start reading The Old Man and the Sea, you are introduced to the old man in the title.  His name is Santiago.  Santiago is a Cuban fisherman who is “thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck (Hemingway 9).”  This can be a result of a hard life and being nutritionally deprived.  Unfortunately, he has been cursed with a bout of bad luck, or salao.  He has not caught a fish for eighty-four days.  For the first forty days of the eighty-four, Santiago fishes with a young boy named Manolin.  Manolin’s parents did not like him fishing with the unlucky old man so he was transferred to a different boat.  This shows that he is strong willed and stubborn because Santiago does not even think of stopping fishing.  Fishing is the only thing left for Santiago since his wife died.  Ever since his wife’s passing, he is lonely.  He would not even keep their wedding photograph hanging up on the wall.  It is hid away on the shelf underneath his only clean shirt. 

            The result of not bringing in fish each day is the absence of money.  Therefore, Santiago lives in a guano, which is a shack made with palms.  Inside of his guano, there is a bed, a table, a chair, and a little cooking area.  Along with having to live in a shack, he does not have any money for food.  Each day he tells Manolin he is going to have yellow rice with fish, but both the boy and the old man know that there is not any.  Santiago cannot afford to buy any food and has gotten used to not eating.  “For a long time now eating had bored him and he never carried a lunch.  He had a bottle of water in the bow of the skiff and that was all he needed for the day (Hemingway 27).”  What I have learned from the old man so far is that you cannot give up on something you cannot go a day without thinking about.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.