Thoughts on Reading the Old Man and the Sea

Thoughts on reading The Old Man and the Sea

The Old Man and the Sea written by Hemingway tells a very simple story, which is a story that moved almost all the people, and different people will have different feeling after reading it. For my own understanding, I think that the author want to talk about the process and the result from this story.

This novel described an old fisherman named Santiago went fishing alone on the sea. After 84 days with no harvest, he has caught a marvelous marlin. It is a big fish that is two feet bigger than his ship and the old man has never seen nor heard of before. The big fish has great strength, dragging his ship drifting whole two days and nights. The old man has never experienced such difficult test in these two days and nights. And finally he stabbed the big fish to death and tied it to the bow. But he met a shark at that time , the old man had a desperate and violent struggle with the shark. However, the ending is not perfectly, the large marlin was eaten by the shark, and the old man dragged home with only a bare fish skeleton.

Perhaps the old fisherman in the book is not the final victor. Although he had defeated the marlin at first, it was eaten by the shark at last and he had only come to the shore with the bones of the fish. But he had never compromised to the sea, the marvelous marlin and the shark. So, from my perspective, he is a winner who dares to challenge his own shortcomings, courage and confidence.

In the vast waves in the dark night, the weak and thin body have courage to struggle with the powerful nature, which is like facing the fate of unpredictable life. The body can be destroyed, while the will and spirit cannot be conquered. When the old man return in the early morning, he does not lose everything, he conquered the nature and himself , the freedom is his symbol of victory.

It cannot be denied that everyone has flaws. When a person confesses the defect and strives to overcome it rather than to succumb to it, he is a winner whether or not he is able to overcome his own shortcomings, because he has stepped out from his comfort zone and waved to the world. He is the winner of his courage and confidence. The old fisherman is a winner who dares to challenge his own shortcomings, courage and confidence. The old fisherman is not the final winner from a secular view of victory because although he defeated the big marlin at first, the marlin finally was eaten by the shark and he just took the big bones of the marlin back to the shore. That is to say the shark is the winner. However, I believe that the old fisherman is the winner, because he has not been compromised and surrendered to the sea, the big marlin and the shark.

Human nature is powerful and human beings also have their own limits. But it is precisely because the old fisherman challenges again and again to limits and surmounts them, this kind of limit was extended again and again, and greater challenges are again and again put before the human race. In this sense, the old fisherman Santiago such a hero is worthy of our respect forever whether his challenge successes or failures. A ship across the end of the world heads for the unknown sea. A flag hangs on the bow that has rain erosion but still is very bright. There are four words dancing like dragon and shining - beyond the limit! That is the author Hemingway’s evaluation for The Old Man and the Sea.