Back to: Maharashtra Board Class 10th English Guide & Notes
Table of Contents
Introduction
In the story “The Old man and the Sea “written by Ernest Hemingway, we have three major characters- Santiago, Manolin, and the Marlin. This lesson is just a book review written by a review writer about the story’s style, its characters, and the historical context behind it.
Years ago, when the review writer first read this novel “The Old man and the Sea”, he was left unimpressed since he could not understand the story at all. However, when he read the novel for the second time, he realized the historical context behind it and finally understood the exact meaning of the novel without any further doubts. He understood that the motive behind the story is to emphasize the theme of Life and Death.
As a fisherman who has caught nothing for the last eighty-four days, Santiago is a man fighting against his own destiny. Santiago is a Cuban Fisherman who has had an extended run of bad luck since he has been unable to catch a fish for eighty-four days. However, on the eighty-fifth day, he succeeds in hooking a Marlin with his bait but the Marlin is too strong for him and starts pulling the boat.
Story of Old Man’s Struggle
In short, we can consider “The Old man and the Sea” as the story of the old man’s struggle with the Marlin and his later battle against sharks. On the other hand, Manolin is a young boy and apprentice of Santiago. He has been forced by his parents to start working with another fisherman. The relationship between Manolin and Santiago is really heartwarming.
However, at the end of the story, there is a turning point when readers think that Santiago is about to catch the Marlin because the Marlin fights for its life desperately and it becomes really hard to know whether we should feel pity for the old man or Marlin. But as the novel progresses, the old man and the Marlin are inseparably linked because both stand for the same purpose that is a noble struggle against destruction.
Apart from the story, the review writer talks about the writing style of Ernest Hemingway and describes it as brief and simple. The sentences are straight- forward and the simplicity of the words is deceptive and thus a reader is able to read Hemingway’s work again and again finding a new layer of meaning every time.
Novels Based on Real Events
Hemingway’s novels are based on real events. He worked for the Red Cross during the First World War and was injured by a weapon when he was in Italy. Hemingway always talked about the need to struggle against defeat and how determination and endurance can help one to win the struggle.
The Old man and the Sea shows how an old fisherman, Santiago, was almost near his death though he suffered and struggled a lot to achieve something. This novel was published in the year 1952 when people were trying to recover from the mass destruction brought about by the two world wars.
