Earnest Hemmingway
Essay by 24 • September 10, 2010 • 1,460 Words (6 Pages) • 2,006 Views
Earnest Hemingway\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s Books
Essay written by Anonymous
Many of Ernest Hemingway\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s books have had different meaning and all could be interpreted in different way, but there has never been so much written about his other stories. Well the Old Man and the Sea had more written about it than any of his other novels and there have never been so many different types of interpretations about his other novels. The Old Man and the Sea is a book in which can be interpreted in many different ways. Here you will read what many critics have composed about the story of a great writer, Ernest Hemingway. Many of the critics have the same outlook on the works of Hemingway. Hemingway\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s work The Old man and the Sea can be looked at in many different perspectives. All the critics believed that his styling of writing was very defined.
In 1944 Ernest Hemingway went to Havana, Cuba and it was there he wrote a letter to Maxwell Perkins which states he has a idea on a new novel called The Old Man and the Sea ( Nelson and Jones 139). Hemingway first got his idea for The Old Man and the Sea from the stories that he had heard in the small fish cities in Cuba by a man named Carlos Gutierrez. He had known of this man for about twenty years and the stories of the fighting marlins. It was then that he imagined that man under the two circumstances and came up with the idea. After about twenty years of pondering on the story , he decided that he would start on the novel of The Old Man and the Sea. The story The Old Man and the Sea is about a old man named Santiago who has to over come the great forces of nature. Things seem to always go wrong for him because originally he started out going to fish for some dinner, then he caught the biggest marlin ever and it pulled him out in the bay of Cuba even more then he was. After he was pulled out, he hurt his hands and couldn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t risk going to sleep because of the risk of sharks. When the sharks finally attacked he lost the marlin which had become a great part of him because he knew that no one would believe him when he told them the size of the marlin. This has to be one of the most memorable fights in a novel that I have ever seen, but I think that the way he put the novel together was just as good as that of the fight.
When he put them together it was then that he realized
that what he was actually writing about was a struggle of man vs. nature. He liked the idea of man vs. nature and decided to use it in the struggle scene with the marlin. Magill wrote,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" the book can be seen as a fable of the unconquerable spirit of man, a creature capable of snatching spiritual victories from the circumstances of disaster and material defeat\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" (Magill 4325). Also it is said,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" the conflict is of the strength of a ordinary man and the power of nature\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"(Magill 4325). I feel that Santiago plays a large role in the novel by being able not to give in and prove to the element of nature that he would over come them in the long run.
Magill wrote,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" The Old Man and the Sea is a direct descendant of Moby Dick\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"(Magill 4326). He feels that the struggle between Santiago and the marlin is very much like that of the whale and the captain in Moby Dick. The similarities between The Old Man and the Sea and Moby Dick are extremely noticeable after reading both of the stories back to back, but there are differences in the story line. The main difference is that Santiago never comes out with anything unlike the captain in Moby Dick. Santiago was left with just a broken boat, a bad fishing pole, and the misery of defeat.
The story could also be interpreted as being religious because of the struggle that Santiago was put though. Also it is felt by some people to be religious because of the way he only cut his palms( from the rope), his feet( on the front of the boat) and his head(when the bow hit him in the head). It is often portrayed as that of Jesus on the cross. I don\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t know if I really agree with this interpretation of it being religious. The reason I don\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t agree with this is because if every time
someone got cut on the hands and feet in a movie or book then I guess that they too resemble that of Jesus on the cross.
This story has many different interpretations to it, but would the interpretations be if the story contained everyone from the village in it and sowed how the were raised, born, educated, and bore children. This story could have been well over a thousand pages if the above were included (Plimpton 125). The big question that I ask is though, if all the above were included in the novel, how different do you think that the interpretation would be? I feel that the interpretations would be so very different because the whole story be circled around that of the battle between Santiago and the marlin. Also, I believe that the religious interpretations would be not as strong because of dealing more with the life of the city people and that of Santiago.
Hemingway is a writer who creates things out of his head. If he wasn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t a genius then how come did he win a Pulitzer Pride for the story The Old Man and the Sea Hemingway states,\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" I knew
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