Often in works of literature the story is based upon a message or theme. In Ernest Hemingway’s novella, The Old Man and the Sea, the message the author is trying to get across to readers is how an occupation, a hobby, or things of that matter can drive you to the point of insanity and yet your life still revolves around it.
The old man forms his life around fishing. When he wakes up every morning he is a fisherman and nothing else. If Santiago was not a fisherman there would be no other profession for him. “You were born to be a fisherman as the fish was born to be a fish” (105). He has honor for fishing since he does not want to think about the sin of killing a fish. His trips could eventually kill him but he doesn’t back down. The old man isn’t afraid to die but instead he would accept his fate.
As stated in the first paragraph, fishing is the occupation that keeps Santiago alive but it kills him slowly at the same time. As would he say: “Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me alive” (106). The time he spends out on his fishing trips is slowly destroying and weakening him. Fishing is his only will to live. If he did not fish he would die because fishing is what provides for him. It’s what keeps him from giving up. Fishing is the only area in which he can prove himself to be better than any other younger fishermen.
When Santiago is out at sea the sharks pick up the scent of the dead marlin and swim toward the skiff. After the battle with the sharks, he believes they killed him but the pain in his hands and shoulders reassured him that he was still alive. When he returns to the harbor he tells Manolin that he feels the sharks have defeated him but, Manolin does not agree with him. “He didn’t beat you. Not the fish” (124). He helps the old man cheer up by saying that he must recover soon so that they can go out to sea again and so he can teach him everything.
Something that kills me is how I doubt things very quickly and how I think negatively about certain things. If I’m working on something I’ll have to ask people a million times if it’s good enough. Or sometimes I won’t speak up for an idea, knowing that I’m probably wrong about it when I’m actually not. I sometimes don’t take chances only because I believe it will turn out wrong. My mother says I always doubt myself about everything. My friends say the same but about different things though. I don’t believe there is anything that can cheer me up like Manolin cheers up the old man, but maybe there is and I just haven’t discovered it yet.
The old man forms his life around fishing. When he wakes up every morning he is a fisherman and nothing else. If Santiago was not a fisherman there would be no other profession for him. “You were born to be a fisherman as the fish was born to be a fish” (105). He has honor for fishing since he does not want to think about the sin of killing a fish. His trips could eventually kill him but he doesn’t back down. The old man isn’t afraid to die but instead he would accept his fate.
As stated in the first paragraph, fishing is the occupation that keeps Santiago alive but it kills him slowly at the same time. As would he say: “Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me alive” (106). The time he spends out on his fishing trips is slowly destroying and weakening him. Fishing is his only will to live. If he did not fish he would die because fishing is what provides for him. It’s what keeps him from giving up. Fishing is the only area in which he can prove himself to be better than any other younger fishermen.
When Santiago is out at sea the sharks pick up the scent of the dead marlin and swim toward the skiff. After the battle with the sharks, he believes they killed him but the pain in his hands and shoulders reassured him that he was still alive. When he returns to the harbor he tells Manolin that he feels the sharks have defeated him but, Manolin does not agree with him. “He didn’t beat you. Not the fish” (124). He helps the old man cheer up by saying that he must recover soon so that they can go out to sea again and so he can teach him everything.
Something that kills me is how I doubt things very quickly and how I think negatively about certain things. If I’m working on something I’ll have to ask people a million times if it’s good enough. Or sometimes I won’t speak up for an idea, knowing that I’m probably wrong about it when I’m actually not. I sometimes don’t take chances only because I believe it will turn out wrong. My mother says I always doubt myself about everything. My friends say the same but about different things though. I don’t believe there is anything that can cheer me up like Manolin cheers up the old man, but maybe there is and I just haven’t discovered it yet.
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