I would never have read Hemingway, had I not chanced upon 'The Old Man and the Sea'. This book also was a part of our academics in class IX and X. Two years to study one book.. ;-) To be frank, in the beginning I never enjoyed the book. It was all about fishing lines, sea, mud, shacks, and the old man. There was nothing interesting in it. I used to bunk my classes when we had 'The Old Man and the Sea'. As time went by, my first exam approached. This time I was cornered. The book accounted for about 40% of the marks for English. I had no option than to read it because I wasn't confident of scoring a 40 out of the rest 60.
The first chapter started "He was an old man who fished alone in the....". I still remember that beginning. The story is about Santiago, an old fisherman in Cuba, who is considered unlucky in fishing, how he catches the biggest catch of his life, and what happens to the catch. He is considered unlucky as though he goes out fishing everyday, he doesn't get a single catch. One more character to be mentioned is Manolin, Santiago's apprentice. Though the boy's parents has now forbid him from going out with the 'unlucky' man, Manolin likes to be with Santiago and often helps him carry his fishing gear to his shack. The author has described the characters as well as the setting very elaborately. We come to know about the creases on the back of Santiago's neck, the things in the shack, and the whole place. While reading it is actually possible to imagine what the characters look and feel like.
Another aspect which fascinated me was the knowledge the author had about the sea. He describes about the tides, the fishes, why fishes circle about at certain spots, and a lot many more interesting facts. I also got a fair knowledge of a variety of fishes :-) At times, the boy and Santiago discuss baseball, which I felt boring... ;-)
When Santiago goes fishing finally in the book, we see him spending days alone in the midst of the sea. Finally he gets his catch, a big fish (forgot the name). We see him killing the fish efficiently after long battles with the big one. But ironically, by the time he reaches the shore with the biggest catch of his life, its all head and skeleton left. The blood from the fish attracted the larger carnivores which fed on the fish. He fought a lot with those fishes also, but in vain. When he reaches ashore, everybody wonders at the size of the fish. Without any emotions Santiago leaves for his shack.
This is one of the famous passages from the book - ""Fish," he said, "I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends.""
The first chapter started "He was an old man who fished alone in the....". I still remember that beginning. The story is about Santiago, an old fisherman in Cuba, who is considered unlucky in fishing, how he catches the biggest catch of his life, and what happens to the catch. He is considered unlucky as though he goes out fishing everyday, he doesn't get a single catch. One more character to be mentioned is Manolin, Santiago's apprentice. Though the boy's parents has now forbid him from going out with the 'unlucky' man, Manolin likes to be with Santiago and often helps him carry his fishing gear to his shack. The author has described the characters as well as the setting very elaborately. We come to know about the creases on the back of Santiago's neck, the things in the shack, and the whole place. While reading it is actually possible to imagine what the characters look and feel like.
Another aspect which fascinated me was the knowledge the author had about the sea. He describes about the tides, the fishes, why fishes circle about at certain spots, and a lot many more interesting facts. I also got a fair knowledge of a variety of fishes :-) At times, the boy and Santiago discuss baseball, which I felt boring... ;-)
When Santiago goes fishing finally in the book, we see him spending days alone in the midst of the sea. Finally he gets his catch, a big fish (forgot the name). We see him killing the fish efficiently after long battles with the big one. But ironically, by the time he reaches the shore with the biggest catch of his life, its all head and skeleton left. The blood from the fish attracted the larger carnivores which fed on the fish. He fought a lot with those fishes also, but in vain. When he reaches ashore, everybody wonders at the size of the fish. Without any emotions Santiago leaves for his shack.
This is one of the famous passages from the book - ""Fish," he said, "I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends.""
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