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Reading comprehension essay
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The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
After reading this novel, "The Old Man and the Sea," by Ernest Hemingway, I was confused about something the old man kept repeating. During the course of the book, the old man, Santiago, refers to having gone out to far to catch the fish. To me, this sounds as though he is making excuses for himself as to why he could not bring the fish in. On the other hand, he may have realized that he should not have gone out so far because it was not worth it for everything he puts himself and the fish through. I reread over these parts and came to a conclusion about this problem. We know that Santiago sets out on the eighty-fifth day earlier than normal to get a head start on what he believes to be the day he will catch something. He does catch something and it just happens to be the biggest fish he has ever seen in his life. He does everything he can to hook the fish and once hooked; the fish carries him out to sea, moving further and further away from land. The man knows he is not prepared for what is to come but does not let this discourage him and keeps on trying. This tells me that Santiago is courageously devoted to his life of fishing After three days at sea, managing the marlin, and more importantly hunger, he brings the fish in and attaches it to the side of his boat. When the first of the sharks come, he does everything in order to defend himself, but as unprepared as he was, his actions are almost useless. This is when he first says to himself and the marlin beside him, "I shouldn't have gone out so far, fish. Neither for you nor me. I'm sorry fish" (110). The old man had considered the fish his friend and also a brother the entire time he had been trying to kill it. To me, this asse...
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...eturn. What the old man does not realize is that he does receive something in return. He has an experience that not many other people have had or will ever experience. He has gained knowledge of how to be more prepared for an event like this. And he has attained the respect of the townspeople, who had once thought he was sad and pitiful. Santiago is a brave and defiant old man who is sad that he did not manage to complete his journey with his trophy beside him. If one was to look into this more and try and come to a conclusion as to why the old man constantly repeats that he went out to far, I think they would find that it is the old man's way of dealing with his loss. As much as he says it though, I do not think that if he had it to do over again, he would stop before he caught the fish. Santiago is a true fisherman and he would do whatever it took to prove that.
In The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, Santiago has gone eighty four days without catching a fish. He decides he is going to go as far out in the water as he needs to catch the biggest fish he can find. Santiago 's friend Manolin is a boy who loves Santiago and does everything he can to help take care of him. Manolin helps Santiago get everything ready for Santiago 's big trip out into the sea. When Santiago takes of Manolin can not go with him. As Santiago is moving through the sea
openly. In fact, he says he likes Cohn. It is in his subtle critique of
To begin with, the old man is determined just as the fish is. When Santiago first hooks the fish, he states, “‘Fish,’ he said softly, aloud, ‘I’ll stay with you until I am dead’” (Hemingway 52). This shows how he will risk his life to prove that he can catch this marlin. Santiago was fixed on catching this fish and ending his bad luck streak. And, as the marlin doesn’t have much of a choice, he will fight until he dies as well. They are both very
Even though he is an experienced fisherman, he has gone 48 days without catching a single fish. Due to this, he has acquired the nickname ‘Salao’, which is a form of dreadful unluckiness. He is perceived as being so unlucky that Manolin, his companion, has been forbidden to fish with him. His parents commanded him to fish on another vessel with more success. Through it all, Santiago keeps an optimistic attitude stating, “Only I have no luck anymore. But who knows? Maybe today. Everyday is a new day”. This mindset shows how the character of Santiago is not one who is easily discouraged. He has been coming home everyday for over a month with an empty skiff. Yet, he has not reached the point of defeat, or giving up. He believes everyday is a new day. Not only does he have tremendous optimism, but he also shows a considerable amount of self-confidence. Even though every other fisherman thinks he is wasting his time and unlucky, Santiago goes fishing anyway. He does not picture himself as a being elderly, unlucky, or weak. Instead, he believes that he is equal to any other
I have read the book ”A Farewell to Arms” written by Ernest Hemingway in 1929. Ernest Hemingway was born in 1899 in Illinois, USA. When he was young the First World War broke out and he decided to join the Italian army as an ambulance driver. After the war he worked as a correspondent in Europe. As a correspondent he visited France, Spain and Greece, and among other things reported from the Spanish Civil War. He stayed in Europe during the 1920s and 1930s. In addition to his work as a journalist he began writing books. Ernest Hemingway’s first literary work, “Three Stories and Ten Poems”, came out in 1923. The breakthrough did not come until three years later with “The Sun Also Rises”. Ernest Hemingway is considered as one of the greatest modern writers and got the Nobel Prize in litterature in 1954. Hemingway travelled a lot and has lived all around the world, for instance in Paris, in Florida and on Cuba. He devoted himself a great deal to hunting and fishing, and also enyojed bullfighting. Food and drink were other things that he appreciated in life. His extensive consumption of alcohol probably was the cause of the mental disturbances (like paranoia and depression) which hit him when he got older. In 1961 he shot himself in the head with a rifle.
Trying to reassure yourself, Santiago begins to think and talk to himself. His thoughts revolve around sin. He asks himself, if not a sin to kill the fish, and understands that there is no - not sin, because he was born a fisherman, just as the fish was born fish. The old man thinks that he killed for food. Then he comes to the conclusion that killing the big fish, he was proud, and pride - the sin. Shark he was killed with pleasure, but in this case he was fighting for his life.
First, the old man receives outer success by earning the respect and appreciation of the boy and the other fishermen. The boy is speaking to the old man in his shack after the old man’s long journey, “You must get well fast for there is much that I can learn and you can teach me everything” (Hemmingway 126). The boy appreciates the fact that the old man spends time to teach him about fishing. He respects him a great deal for he knows that the old man is very wise and is a magnificent fisherman. The fellow fishermen also show respect towards the old man as they note the size of the fish after the old man returns home, “What a fish it was, there has never been such a fish” (123). The men admire the fact that the old man has caught the biggest fish that they have seen. Many fishermen resented Santiago at first, however their opinion changed once they realized what the old man has gone through. Being admired by others plays a major role in improving one’s morale.
The Sun Also Rises is a great novel about the “lost generation”, which is the post war generation. Ernest Hemingway was inspired by real life events when writing this novel, basing the events and characters off of his personal experiences with friends and life after war. In this novel there is an abundance of casual sex between characters, and Lady Brett Ashley is the main character that displays these shows of promiscuity, constantly seducing men to get what she wants. Brett is the only woman that is fully developed in the story and her value is of expensive jewelry to the men, yet she uses and treats them differently. Brett has sexual relations with many men in the novel. Ernest Hemingway portrays Lady Brett Ashley as a masculine, promiscuous, and self-destructive.
In A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway, the novel concerns itself primarily with Hemingway's philosophy of life: unordered and random. There is no God to watch over man, to dictate codes of morality, or to ensure justice. Hemingway’s hero must accept his place as something insignificant, yet continue to fight endlessly against the meaninglessness of life. The universe is indifferent to man's plight. In the book, this indifference is best exemplified by the war -- an ultimately futile struggle of man against man and the death of Catherine Barkley – someone good and pure. She did not die due to her “sins”, but merely because life is short, unfair, and unorderly.
He must fight through the weakness and pain to reverse his luck and restore his reputation. Santiago is a once great fisher down on his luck. He knows that he bag a great fish to restore his reputation. Santiago fights because he believes in the old ways of fishing and jas true skill; he feels pressured by the younger fishermen who “used buoys as floats for their lines and had motorboats” (Hemingway) and wants to catch a fish to prove that the old ways are better than the new fangled contraptions. Santiago refuses to believe that the effects of aging would prevent him from catching any great fish; he “had seen many [fish] that weighed more than a thousand pounds and had caught two of that size in his life, but never alone” (Hemingway) and never as an old man.
”(page 111). Santiago had plans for him already but failed to accomplish them. Some will argue that he won because he gained spiritual victory. This , in a way, is true; but fishing is his job and only way of living. If the case had been different and Santiago was only fishing for his personal entertainment, which wasn’t, it could be seen as a new experience or story to tell.
The Old Man and the Sea is novella written by Ernest Hemingway in 1952. It tells the epic journey and struggles of the old fisherman, Santiago, and his younger fishing partner, Manolin. The story goes into detail the day to day life struggles that a fisherman off the coast of Africa endures. The majority of the story focuses on one particular trip out sea. In life, one will go through a number of stages in life. Infancy, Youth , Adulthood, and Old Age are all key stages. As one grows, they mature through these various stages. When one reaches old age, there is often a lot of doubt surrounding their lives. Serenity, and independence are often the two most questioned. These are some questions that Santiago has to ask himself as well.
In The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman, pits his strength against forces he cannot control. We learn from Santiago's struggles how to face insurmountable odds with bravery and courage. Though we find an indifferent and hostile universe as Santiago's stage, his unwillingness to give in to these forces demonstrate a reverence for life's struggles. Santiago's struggle is for dignity and meaning in the face of insurmountable odds. His warrior-like spirit fights off the sharks full-well knowing the fate of his marlin. Santiago loses his marlin in the end, but his struggle to keep it represent a victory because of the dignity and heroism with which he carries out his mission. However, as Santiago acknowledges, he is almost sorry he caught the marlin because he knows the animal and he have a great deal in common as fellow beings in nature. However, he only caught the marlin "through trickery" (Hemingway 99). Santi...
His persistence and confidence was clearly demonstrated at the beginning of the novella. At the beginning of the novella, Santiago seems to run out of luck: he has been unable to catch a fish for eighty four days. As a professional fisherman, eight four days without catching a single fish would be shameful, especially for an old man. However, he never once ga...
The great stories behind The Old Man and the Sea are what make it so wonderful. Because of this novels success released in 1952, it helped Hemingway ring in the Nobel Prize for 1954 for Hemingway (Hurse). He had a way of writing a good hearted, high spirited hero, who seemed in many ways to be at one with nature and himself. It is believed that Hemingway conjured up the character Santiago from a 92 year old man who crossed to Florida with other Cuban refugees (Baker 910). This makes sense considering Santiago is the main character, who is of old age. His characters although having many great qualities, still had struggles. Santiago is the man of hour, when speaking of The Old Man and the Sea. H...