The Old Man and the Sea - Why I Love This Novel

After finishing all eight discussion questions for Old Man and the Sea, I was left with an abundance of thought on what to blog about next. Should I blog about how significant the theme was? Or maybe about the old man’s character? I know I will eventually cover those topics in a blog, but for now I want to express my love for the novella (love is a strong word, I know, but I thoroughly enjoyed Hemmingway’s work of art).

I honestly think it is one of the best books I have ever read. If I were to state that opinion in New York Times, I would have thousands of people emailing me telling me I am wrong in so many ways. But honestly, I cannot think of any other book that has suited my personality the best, caught my attention more, and did both of those things in under 127 pages like that of The Old Man and the Sea. The idea of the story is simple. An old man goes out to sea in hopes of catching a big fish to end his steak of bad luck. After a brutal and demanding three days at sea, the old man returns home with nothing but the skeleton of an eighteen foot marlin. Nothing extensive was added to the plot. There were no unimportant characters thrown in here and there to defer the reader’s attention from the main message of the story. Overall, the book had everything a successful work of art should possess, but what makes it even more significant is the fact that Hemmingway can pack such an elaborate and everlasting message into such a short story.

Give this book to a ten year old child and all you will get out of them is a summary of what they perceive to be an easy to read book that had little point to it, and the only action that caught their attention is the brief description of the old man fighting off a shark. Give this book to a sixteen year old high school student in an Honors English class and you will get a blog that brags about the ingenious and intuitive message the author cunningly devised through an old man who fought to never give up despite his inopportune situation. Two completely different aspects, but for each person, is right. Overall, I highly regard Hemmingway’s masterpiece because it is not like every book you read, but has its own creative plot and writing technique to it that allows the novella to stand out from the rest.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.