Oh boy. Here it is. The question that all high school students have been asking since the beginning of time. Why do we still read this 'timeless' book. Well The Old Man and the Sea actually wasn't that bad compared to other books that I have had to read for school. (looks glaringly at the copies of Wuthering Heights and Life of Pi on book shelf). It was short, there wasn't meaningless stuff that didn't contribute to the plot or filler information that just was confusing (yeah still looking at you Wuthering Heights). The ultimate struggle of a man versus himself, nature, and the world is one of the requirements for being a classic work of literature. The Odyssey, Hatchet, Moby Dick, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame are some other examples. (Whoa. I apologize. Those are four very random books. That is what heat indexes over 100 do to my brain.) In a way, Santiago is an epic hero. He goes on a quest to catch a big fish, he succeeds beating the odds, and he does it by himself. Those are some of the major characteristics of being an epic hero (minus the whole god involvement thing [Well there is that Jesus thing from prior posts if that counts] that the rest of the heroes have). That is why the old man is so likeable and the book is so popular. Who doesn't like a hero? (Oh wait, villains don't. Never mind. Answering my own rhetorical questions. [Crap. Proving my rhetorical questions moot. I have to stop this parentheses and bracket stuff]) Anyways... Santiago has qualities that are likeable and his journey is a rememberable one. That is why adults keep coming back to it, and select adults who are teachers have their students read it.
A couple of things can be learned from this book. The first is to never give up. Santiago didn't and he captured an eighteen foot fish, punched sharks, and did everything by himself even though he is an old man. Another thing is the circle of life process. Death is not always a bad thing and Hemingway showed that the marlin's death wasn't such a bad thing since the fish lived on through his skeleton and will become a legend. The last thing is something I learned was something that might not apply to everyone. I learned a lot about deep sea fishing. I have fished in a lake with my grandpa before, but that is the limit of my knowledge of fishing. Having a good amount of technical detail about fishing for different things (marlins, dolphins, bonitos) was very interesting. Especially since it wasn't overwhelming.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.
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