Old Man In The Sea Essay, Research Paper

Book Report on Old Man and the Sea

Title: Old Man in the Sea

Author: Ernest Hemmingway

Publication: Simon and Schuster, Inc. in New York, NY.

Theme: It doesn?t matter if you succeed as long as you try and enjoyed the attempt. Also even if you don?t succeed, its only important if you have the will to try again. If you have the will to try again good things will happen. Santiago supported this theme because for eighty-four days straight he hadn?t caught one fish but day after day he would go out and try again and finally one day he caught the biggest and most beautiful fish he could dream of. He succeeded but the fish ended up getting eaten by sharks. Santiago was devastated but decided to keep on fishing.

Place Setting: This book takes place in Cuba and the ocean.

Time Setting: This book takes place in the early nineteen forties

Point of View: This book was told in third person omniscient. I believe Hemmingway picked this point of view is because this he can show the characters emotions better and distinguish different characteristics.

Main Characters:

Santiago- The main character, an old very experienced Cuban fisherman. Despite his age he had young eyes and great determination to catch the marlin. Santiago endured a lot of pain trying to catch the marlin but wit his determination he never let go and caught the fish.

Marlin the Marlin- Was an eighteen foot and beautiful fish. The fish eventually kind of became Santiago?s brother. The marlin demonstrated great skill and strength for three days before being caught.

Manolin- A young boy, who admired and learned to fish from Santiago. The boy cared for Santiago and refused to let him ever fish alone again.

Plot: Santiago had gone eighty-four days without catching a single fish, and Manolin?s family had refused to let Manolin, a young boy, fish with his friend Santiago because they believed he had bad luck. The night before Santiago was going to fish, Manolin and him talked about Baseball, which they both loved. The next day Santiago set off to try to catch some fish. Santiago ended up catching the biggest, most beautiful he could have dreamed of. Santiago couldn?t reel the huge marlin in. The fish continued to swim and didn?t lose much energy. Santiago spent three days and finally was able to catch the marlin. Santiago?s hands were bruised, his back was extremely sore, and was acting strangely, talking and arguing to himself. Santiago hooked the fish next to the boat and headed back to the village. A couple of sharks had come up and tore apart part of the fish but still half of it was left. Then when he got near the village and group of sharks had come and attacked the boat and even with all Santiago?s effort the sharks were able to destroy and eat the whole fish. After the trip home Santiago was exhausted but was considered a hero when people measured the size of the bones. Manolin was worried for the man a promised him he would always fish with him from then on.

Evaluation: I didn?t really like the book for two reasons. First I thought it was boring just to read half of the back having him chase a fish. I?m not really interested in fishing so it kind of got me bored. Secondly, when I did get excited at the end the sharks ate the finish and it made for a bad ending. If the ending were different I would have enjoyed this book more. In conclusion I would not recommend this book

Weiss, Mike