Social Issues in "The Old Man and the Sea"

There is one main social issue in The Old Man and the Sea. The biggest social is the fact that the villagers did not like the Old Man just because he was down on his luck and was not catching any fish. There was not really any reason for them to look down on him, because he had not been cruel to any of them or mean. He was nice to all of them, was very patient with them, and showed them every kindness. He did nothing against any of them, waved to everyone he saw, stayed out of the way of other people, and was just a good guy in general. The rest of the villagers loooked down on the Old Man because he had not been able to catch any fish recently. The Old Man had been out of luck lately, and no fish had come near him so that he might have even had the chance of catching any, so none of it was even his fault. He had done nothing wrong, he had just not caught anything, so there was no reason for the villagers to dislike him. Some of the villagers, the Boy in particular, had nothing against the Old Man, because the Old Man had done nothing wrong and had even taught the Boy how to fish. The Boy really liked the Old Man, and did everything that he could to help him. The Boy's parents though, looked down on the Old Man, because he had not been able to catch anything. They even made the Boy go fish with a different company, because the Old Man had been unlucky. The Boy's parents did not like the Old Man, but there was no apparent reason for their dislike of the Old Man. While there are many social issues in the world, Ernest Hemingway decided to focus on the world's dislike of people that were unlike themselves, and he portrayed it very well in his book.

Influences on the "The Old Man and the Sea"

There could have been many things that influenced Ernest Hemingway to write The Old Man and the Sea. There is a very good chance that Ernest Hemingway got the idea for The Old Man and the Sea while he was out traveling and possibly going through villages that may have been similar to the one in his story. He may have seen a small fishing village that had not much to it, and he may have seen the men all head out to sea so they could catch their fish for that day. He may have even followed some of the men out or gone on one of the boats with them and watched what they did all day so he could write the book with more detail. There is the possibility that he went to a bar in a small village and smelled some fish and began to think of fishermen and bars and the fishing industry. He may not have been anywhere near fishing villages or even villages at all when he came up with the idea for The Old Man and the Sea. He may have been out in the middle of the sea and seen a big fish, like a marlin, or even a shark, and started thinking about how those fish are caught, the natural cycle of life of a fish, or even how sharks and other fish, like marlin, and related to each other. He may have seen people picking on other people, or even people being nice to other people. He may have just seen an old man sitting somewhere and being very patient, and he may have come up with the idea for writing a book teaching lessons about things such as kindness and patience. People begin writing books for many different reasons, and they all come from different inspirations. Whatever was the reasoning behind writing The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway made the world a better place because he wrote it.

Ernest Hemingway's values according to "The Old Man and the Sea"

It is easy to tell Ernest Hemingway's values in The Old Man and the Sea, because the qualities that are emphasized in the book are qualities that Ernest Hemingway values. Ernest Hemingway valued patience, courage, kindness, and loyalty. He shows that he values patience in a lot of different places in the book. He shows it through the Old Man waiting for so long to catch the marlin and barely even moving through the whole experience. Another way he shows it is that he lets the Old Man wait to catch fish for months, and the Old Man does not complain about it at all. Hemingway shows that he values courage by having the Old Man go up against many sharks and fighting them all with barely anything, just a few sharp objects. He also shows that he values courage because the Old Man must stand up for himself to the rest of the villagers that do not believe he can catch any more fish. Hemingway shows that he values kindness in many different ways. One of the ways is by having the Boy be extremely kind to the Old Man, because he gives the Old Man food when the Old Man did not have any, and the Boy stayed with the Old Man in his house, even though his house was awful. The villagers are also kind to the Old Man after he brings in the marlin carcass, because they realize that he still does have what it takes to be a good fisherman. The last quality that Hemingway values is loyalty. Hemingway shows that he values loyalty by keeping the Boy loyal to the Old Man, even though no one else in the village believes in him. The Old Man also stays true to himself and has the self-confidence to know that he can do it. Ernest Hemingway valued many good qualities in other people, and he let that shine through when he wrote The Old Man and the Sea.

Tone of "The Old Man and the Sea"

The Old Man and the Sea has an informative tone. It is not very aggressive; it is a more passive book, because the author has no big point to make. If he had a big point to make, he would have had to make the book a lot more aggressive, but he was able to keep a passive tone. The author also had no need to have a persuasive tone, because he had nothing to persuade his audience about. There was also no need for an argumentative tone, because there was no argument and no point that he was trying to refute. The author has a neutral tone, because he wants people to feel everything for themselves. It also shows how good of an author he is, because he crafted his book so that people feel everything the Old Man did and love him, but the author never showed his opinions. He may have seemed a little kind about descriptions of the Old Man at times, but he may also possibly have been a little harsh at some points. It seemed like he really cared about the characters in his book, and he cultivated their backgrounds well. He was very sincere in his writing, because nothing in his book was facetious or sarcastic. He was very plainspoken in the book, and it seemed like he might be writing to the type of people that were in the book. He was also pretty serious, even though he threw in a witty remark every now and then, and he was very casual in his speech. He was very reserved and reasonable, and he wrote extremely calmly. He was kind of impersonal, but it all made the book seem that much better. The book was extremely well-written, and the tone that The Old Man and the Sea was written in just makes the book all the more intriguing and makes people want to read it just that much more.

Summary of "The Old Man and the Sea"

In The Old Man and the Sea, the book starts off with the Old Man coming home after a fruitless day out at sea. He goes to a bar, where he sees a Boy that he taught how to fish. The Boy takes him home and they rest there for a while, after which they eat supper and the Boy leaves so the Old Man can sleep. The next morning, the Old Man gets up bright and early, and the Boy meets him at his house, so the Boy can help the Old Man carry his things out to his boat. They make it to the boat, the Boy says goodbye, and the Old Man heads out to sea. 120 Soon, the Old Man is far enough out that he sets up his lines and waits. He does not get much, so he keeps moving and eventually sees a fish tugging on one of his lines. He realizes that it is a big one, so he sets himself up and does not let go. The fish, a marlin, just starts swimming and never looks back. The marlin takes the Old Man farther and farther out to sea. He goes all through the night and shows no sign of stopping. After about a full day of being dragged, the Old Man realizes that he will need food soon, so he catches a little fish, cleans it, slices it, and eats it all with one hand. After another day, he brings the marlin in after a long battle, lashes it to the ship and heads back to shore with the help of the wind. The marlin leaves a trail of blood in the water, so sharks start coming to attack and eat it. The Old Man fights some of them off, but soon he runs out of things to use as weapons, so he must sit and watch helplessly as the sharks strip all the meat off the marlin. He eventually, after close to a day, brings the marlin back in to shore, but as soon as he gets off his boat he collapses. The Boy takes him back to his house and tells him all about how the villagers said they had never seen anything that big and how they had put their faith into him again, but the Old Man is quickly asleep, unconscious of anything happening. The Old Man and the Sea is an extraordinary book that should be read by all.

Conflicts of "The Old Man and the Sea"

The Old Man and the Sea is a very good book, but it is very simplistic in its speech and message. There is a little conflict when the Old Man is in his village, because everyone else in the village has no faith in him. They all have conflicting emotions about him, because he is well respected and loved, but he has not caught anything in an extremely long time, so they have no faith in him. The biggest conflict in The Old Man and the Sea is between the Old Man and the marlin that he is trying to catch for the majority of the book. There is much conflict between the Old Man and the marlin, because the marlin obviously does not want to be caught because it would be killed if it was. The Old Man really wants to catch the marlin, because if he does, the whole village will respect him even more and put all their faith back in him. The Old Man does eventually catch the marlin, which gains him back the faith of the villagers and the respect that he had lost. The last conflict in the book is the conflict between the Old Man and the sharks that come to attack the dead marlin that is lashed to the boat. The Old Man tries to save as much of his catch as he can by beating or killing all the sharks that he can, but eventually the sharks get the best of him because he runs out of weapons and they devour all of the marlin. The Old Man eventually makes it back to the village and his whole town is shown that he really does know how to fish and is still fully capable of doing so. Out of the three major conflicts that are in The Old Man and the Sea, two of them end up well for the Old Man, and according to a popular Meatloaf song, "Two out of three ain't bad".

Setting of "The Old Man and the Sea"

The Old Man and the Sea is a simple book. It only takes place in two different places, but both are equally important to the structure of the book. The book begins in a lonely fishing village that demands a normal amount for a fishing village. Anyone that does not meet their expectations, though, is immediately looked down upon by everyone old enough to understand. While they do look down upon some, they still care for certain people because those people had gained their respect prior to losing their luck. The Old Man hangs around his boat, the bar, and his house, which has next to nothing, is cold during the winters and hot during the summers, and gives him little respite from the sun. The bar is pretty normal, but is next to a restaurant, so it may be better than some that it could be compared to. Soon, the scenery changes and becomes blue as far as the eye can see. That's right, next the Old Man goes to sea. He is out at sea for a while, and it seems eternally longer for him since he has barely anything to eat the whole time. When the Old Man goes out to sea, he begins by staying fairly close to the shore, but not close enough to see it. When he catches the marlin, though, it begins to pull him farther and farther out to sea. Later, after he catches the marlin, he must go all the way back in to the village, and without the help and strength of the marlin. He must use the wind and his own strength by paddling all the way back in to shore. When he comes back he goes to the village and just shows everyone the carcass of the marlin he would have brought in. While it is extremely hard to write a classic, it must be infinitely harder to write a classic that is so short and so exclusive in time and setting.

Lessons of "The Old Man and the Sea"

The Old Man and the Sea is not a very long book. While short, it still has many lessons one can learn. A huge lesson to be learned from this book is couage. The Old Man shows much courage in the book through not letting the opinions of anyone in his village affect him. Though they all think he is hopeless and has no chance of catching any fish, he shows that that he does not care what they think and that he will just do what he has been doing for years no matter what. He also is courageous in catching the fish, because he does whatever it takes to get the fish and sits unchanging through the heat-filled days and cold nights. He sits through every kind of weather and does not let any of it affect him. He also defends his catch and fights off as many of the sharks that come to eat the marlin as he can. Another lesson to be learned from The Old Man and the Sea is the lesson of faith. The Old Man had plenty of faith because he ignored the exclamations of the rest of the village and followed his heart. He believed in himself and knew that he would be able to catch a gigantic fish, so he did not listen to those antagonizing him. Patience, a quality that is hard to come by in this world, is also shown in The Old Man and the Sea. The Old Man shows incredible patience while he is catching the marlin. He lets the marlin swim for as long as it wants to and does nothing to stop it, because he knows that it will eventually tire itself out and do whatever the Old Man wants it to. While quite a few lessons can be learned through books, many people struggle putting the lessons to good use and becoming better people. Many good people have good qualities that come from lessons learned through books.

Characters in "The Old Man and the Sea"

The Old Man and the Sea does not have many characters. The main character is the Old Man, who is an incredibly courageous person that wants to prove to himself and the rest of his village that he can still fish well. He is the only main character, but the biggest background character was the Boy. The Old Man taught the Boy how to fish, where to fish, and all the signs of good fishing. A few other background characters are the Boy's parents, the new ship he is fishing on, and the rest of the people in the village, who come into play after the Old Man catches the marlin. None of the people in the village believe that the Old Man can catch fish anymore, because they think he has lost his luck. Soon, though they are all astonished to find that he still knows how to fish and is doing just fine. The Boy, who feels indebted to the Old Man and treats him like a father, looks out for him by making sure he gets to his cottage and tries to supply him with food as much as the Boy can. The Old Man, since he has not caught anything in eighty-four days, struggles in getting the necessities. He has an awful, one-room house, with a small, cramped bed with barely any sheets, and almost never had any food. The Boy used to fish with the Old Man, but when the Old Man had not caught any fish in forty days, the Boy's parents would not let the Boy fish with the Old Man anymore, because they wanted him to do well, and he was not doing well with the Old Man. While there are not many characters in The Old Man and the Sea, the book is a classic and should be read by everyone, no matter what age they are, so it is a good choice for a high schooler.