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.