The Old Man and the Sea :: essays research papers

The book â€Å"The Old Man and the Sea† was written by Hemingway in 1951. Just as Hemingway himself said, the work is the best one he ever wrote in his life. The book was so successful that it enabled Hemingway to win the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. The story of is quite simple: an Cuban fisherman finally fished a very big marlin after eighty four days’ taking no fish, but the fish was too big, the old man spent three days conquering the marlin. However, on his way home, he and the big fish were attacked by a lot of sharks. At last, when he came back, only the head, tail and vertebra of the fish remained. I was really moved after reading the book. I regarded the old man as a hero. After eight four days’ taking no fish, he decided to go farther on the eighty-fifth day. When meeting a big marlin, though he knew the fish was much more powerful than he was, he still determined to fight it unless he died. Because he thought he was born a fisherman. He won, for he finally killed the fish. Just as he said: â€Å"Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.† The old man had been ready very well. He had caught the chance. However, â€Å"Every day is a new day†, a pack of sharks broke all his hope. He never gave up, he fought with the sharks even after loosing his tools. This proved his bravery again, â€Å"Man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.† After the first shark took away about forty pounds of the fish, the old man said like that. I thought it also showed the topic meaning of the book. The old man really gave me a vivid lesson, not only by his heroic behaviors, but by his simple words. Isn’t it the attitude we should take forwards our lives? The old man is also very optimist at the same time. After the first shark’s attack, he said to himself â€Å"Think about something cheerful, old man. Every minute now you are closer to home. You sail lighter for the loss of forty pounds.† Other than complaining about the unfortunate things happened to him, the old man encouraged himself and used an optimist attitude to comfort himself.