老人与海

 Written by Hemingway, the story tells about an old fisherman Santiago who has not caught any fish for 84 days. He has been following his children and has been arranged to go somewhere else by his parents. Everything is ready. The old man is sailing alone.

After a search, the old fisherman found a very large salmon, so Santiago and the big fish began a long battle. The fighting continued for a long time, then, fresh water is finished, the old fisherman in order to save energy, support, can only eat raw fish, even the old man and the big fish.

At the end of the story, the old man returned to his dilapidated home tiredly, this time the experience was frustrating for most people, while Santiago, after a short rest, did not grieve, no pain, just said to the child, get ready and wait to sail again.

Perhaps the old fisherman in the book was not the last to win , he is actually a dare to challenge their own shortcomings and their own courage and confidence of the victor. So how the author portray the persona? 

The analyze of the book

This book shows the Very detail-oriented description, portraying the characters in depth. For example, “He took hold of one foot gently and held it until the boy woke, and look at him, the old man and the boy took his trouser from the chair by the bed and sitting on the bed, pulled them on.” This sentence refers to the detailed daily routine of the old man and young boy, showing the kind and careful character of the old man. What’s more, there are large amount of description of the wonderful sea scenery, which enable the readers to imagine the beauty of the sea as well as the image. For example, the sentence “The beauty of as the sun rose he saw other boats in toward shore, which was only a low green line on the sea.”, as a detail-oriented description. About his smart and skillful character, we can easily see it from the follows: He felt no strain nor weight and he held the line lightly. Then it came again. This time it was a tentative pull, not-solid nor heavy, and he knew exactly what it was.

The narrative of the story is multi-faceted. In the direct narrative there is a narrative, in the narrative interwoven with the old man's memories of the past and the current things of emotion. The old man went out to sea and soon dreamed of the beaches, Straits, and mountains of Africa he had seen as a child, and the next day of his victory over a strong man on a dock Later, while fighting with the sharks, he remembered the scene in which the old softball star Dimaggio fought his opponent bravely, all of which increased his confidence that he would win. He often dreamed of lions, missing Manolin, in the vast sea, talking to himself, which also gave him strength and courage. He sometimes talked about whether it was a sin to kill fish, and lamented about his injured left and right hands.

The author writes about Santiago's actions with perfect fidelity. How he and Manolin prepared before going out to sea, how they watched the baits, how they caught the fish, and how they fought the shark with all their might were described in great details. The author is good at capturing the action of the narrating object, writing people in the movement, sketching the old man's specific actions such as putting bait, killing fish and catching dolphins, etc. Sometimes the author looked at the scene, showing the sky and water, the vast picture of calm, sometimes side-shot, the camera focused on the side of the boat, to capture the old man and Marlin or shark fighting close-up scene; Sometimes, looking up at the scene, from the big fish injured in the air and up to fall into the water without moving, so that the screen has a three-dimensional sense. These multi-angle descriptions add luster to the narrative of the story, combining the author's rich fishing knowledge and experience with superb artistic skills.Marlin weighed three hundred and thirty pounds and took 25 minutes, three hundred and sixty pounds, 32 minutes, Marlin, five hundred and forty pounds, 30 minutes, Marlin, two hundred and seventy-eight pounds, 22 minutes... ... It's not hard to see from the numbers above that Hemingway is not a novelist sitting in his den writing, but a novelist writing about his own experience of life Even Hemingway himself once said, “I wrote the old man and the sea based on years of experience at sea and his knowledge of life as a fisherman.”

From that simple, accurate and full of the rich flavor of life description, I entered the old fisherman Santiago's late life. I read his poverty, desolation, but also read his stubborn and unwilling, at the same time, although he is old and frail, but still maintain that inherent confidence in life. He said: It is silly not to hope, he thought. I think it’s why the old man urged that Man is not born to be defeated, you may destroy him, but you cannot defeat him, for that he failed, but his pride remained intact.; he failed bravely, he is a real hero of triumph.

2022-12-06

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