...the end of the line, the fisherman holds it beside the boat pondering what to do with this fish. The fisherman then carefully surveys the fish and all of its features. After thoroughly studying the fish, the lines were cut and the fish is set free. Many readers may wonder why the fisherman ultimately decides to let the fish go, yet in Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Fish”, the fisherman must make the ultimate decision of whether to keep the fish or turn it loose by identifying with the fish and its condition. Through visual imagery and a sense of pity, a relationship between the fisherman and the fish is formed leading to the ultimate decision to let the fish go. With this “battered and venerable and homely” fish hanging from the hook from his mouth, the fisherman analyzes the rough, scaly skin and large eyes with sympathy (8-9). Looking at the fish, it appears to be old, because of its “brown skin” that “hung in strips like ancient wallpaper” (10-11). Even if the fish is “old and grotesque to the untrained or empathetic eye,” the reader becomes fixed on this fish that is “blurred and imperfect” (McCabe 95). With the flaws and imperfections of the fish, the fisherman starts to pity the fish. The fisherman once again sympathizes with the fish because it has withstood “barnacles forming on his skin, cut gills, and five big hooks,” which still remain (16-17). The fish is still, there is no tension on the line, simply a “grunting weight” (7). As the fisherman examines the fish, the lines...
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...forced to fight the wars during these times, while the rich accumulated a substantial amount of wealth. Besides domestic oppression, the people of China experienced invasion from foreign countries like Portugal, Great Britain, Russia, France, the United States, and Japan. In the late 1800s, China experienced an uprising, known as the Boxer Rebellion, due to the oppression caused by their foreign invaders. Through literature, excluding the propaganda, one can understand the social desires and thoughts of an entire nation. The “Foolish Old Man Who Removed Mountains” and “the Tale of the Peach Blossom Spring” are two perfect literary examples to examine and analyze the social desires of the Chinese people. The “Foolish Old Man Who Removed Mountains” tells the story of an old man living behind two mountains. The mountains blocked his way to the south causing him to choose a path around the obstruction. Unhappy with the two mountains, the old man decided to level them in order to create a...
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...Autobiographical Self-representation in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea Twentieth Century American Fiction ¬¬¬¬ Art and Literature has its origin in man’s desire for immortality. This desire for eternal remembrance prompted primitive men to carve figures of himself and his surroundings in his dwelling places. As art developed and languages formed, the same desire enflamed and that became an impetus for literature. Early literature must have been a recording of real life events with strong and highly fictional additions. Thus, every literature is a product of this human desire to make oneself immortal through the recording of one’s own philosophy, imaginations and real life events. Even in the modern age this subconscious desire results in the inclusion of autobiographical elements of the author into his writings. Ernest Hemingway, America’s most celebrated novelist-cum -short story writer of the twentieth century is said to derive the impetus for his fiction from his own real life experiences or very rarely from the experiences of others who have went through agonies in life just like him. The Old Man and the Sea, one of his greatest and most widely read work is certainly filled with many allusions to his own life, and ideals. The Old Man and the Sea tells the story of an old fisherman named Santiago who fishes in the gulf stream. The man is having some bad time with fishing and has gone without fish for eighty five days. He is very poor and...
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...is ‘fastened to a dying animal’, and accepts the concept. Yeats writes the poem with four separate stanzas to portray the numerous thought patterns and ambiguity occurring in his mind towards death; these thought patterns occupy stages on his journey to the ‘holy city of Byzantium’. This contrasts with the airman in ‘An Irish Airman’, where Yeats’ singular stanza reflects the airman’s certainty and single arc of thought.! ! Yeats’ opening is blunt and directly to the point, showing an apparent lack of enthusiasm for his old age; Yeats appears worn down with age. The rhythm of the opening stanza is slow and steady, which portrays the Yeats, the ‘paltry thing’, has also slowed down due to his age. Yeats opens the poem with ‘that’, which shows a sense of disconnection from the scene he is describing, as he is no longer part of the world as previously known. The slow, trudging tone of the poem reflects Yeats’ largely negative feelings towards old age and the realisation of death. The tone is almost tedious, the very antithesis of ‘In Memory Of’, in which Yeats speaks of the beauty of youth with bright imagery, ‘light of evening, and glamorous clothing, ‘silk kimonos’. Both ‘In Memory Of’ and ‘Sailing to Byzantium’ include the mention of summer to represent youth; however, here Yeats is past his summer and no longer feels welcome there, whereas in ‘In Memory Of’ the girls are coming into the prime of their life, ‘blossoming under summer’s wreath’; instead, Yeats is...
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...caught the fish, continuing on to describe the fish as “battered, venerable and homely” (8-9). In these very words, the reader gains an understanding of the empathy the poet is feeling towards the fish caught: then begins description. The brown colored skin of the fish which hung “like ancient wallpaper” (11) seems apt as it imposes an imagery of an old waning wallpaper, there by implying the old age of the fish. The age implied imagery continues in the lines which follow saying “like full-blown roses/ stained and lost through age” (14-15). Further on, the poet describes other parts of the fish- as she could see a few lime figures, the white speckled sea lice infestation, and a few green weeds clinging on. The entire description makes use of imageries to bring home the point and help the reader see and envision the fish in the same manner as the poet herself. Further on the poem, the description on the fish’s eye makes for the best imagery provided – “far larger than mine / but shallower, and yellowed, / the irises backed and packed / with tarnished tinfoil / seen through the lenses / of old scratched isinglass” (35-40). The detailed description of the eyes...
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...In the novella “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway, Santiago is portrayed as a hero because he shows courage, respect, endurance and determination. Santiago doesn’t let his old age keep him from doing the things he loves, and he takes pride in fishing. In the story he says, “Perhaps I should not have been a fisherman, but that was the thing that I was born for”. The other fisherman make fun of him and say that Santiago is unlucky because he is unable to catch fish despite his hardest efforts. He had gone more than 80 days without catching a fish, but had faith that a fish would come. In the novella, Santiago states “my big fish must be somewhere.” After not catching anything for 84 days, he decided to go out on his own, far into...
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...In The Old Man and the Sea, it states that, “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” (Hemingway 93) This statement can be seen woven throughout the novel in many different forms. It is expressed mostly in the old man whose name is, Santiago. Many look upon him and merely see an old man who is not worth much. However, despite his age and appearance, Santiago refuses to accept destruction in his life. He believes that a man may be defeated by outside influences, but is only destroyed when he truly gives up on himself. The definition of defeat is to have a victory over an event whereas the definition of destruction is to put an end to something entirely. For eighty-four days the hopeful fisherman continuously returns to port empty handed. Even though he is going through trials and hardships, his mind is as sharp as iron and refuses to be destroyed. When it seems like all hope is lost, Santiago holds his head high and refuses to be brought down by outside influences. He clings to the knowledge that he is an honest man and a good fisherman who is simply trying to survive. He has a humble pride about him that is only displayed in the strongest of men. He does not boast of his great deeds, but his pride refuses to allow his soul be...
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...1. Santiago is an old hardened fisherman as described in this quote, “the old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck” (9). He is distant from his fellow fisherman and lives in a rather tiny house. 2. Manolin was taught how to fish by Santiago, and had worked alongside him for a period of time. Manolin would only quit when his parents told him that he had to work on another boat due to Santiago’s lack of success. Manolin considers Santiago to be the best fisherman, “There are many good fishermen and some great ones. But there is only you” (23). 3. Santiago and Manolin have a caring relationship as explained early in the novel, “It made the boy sad to see the old man come in each day with his skiff empty…the boy...
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...Monserrat Solis English III J. Rogers 20 March 2014 Old Man and the Sea There are plenty of tales of tales about the big fish that got away. However, Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea is not one of those exaggerated stories of a huge fish that cannot be proven to have ever been caught. In fact, Santiago, the protagonist, truly hooks and kills the biggest marlin he’s ever seen, one that is well over 1000 pounds. Unfortunately, after winning the fiercest fishing battle in his career, this poor Cuban fisherman loses marketable parts of the fish to hungry sharks on his way back to shore. Three major themes in this novel are determination, pride, and friendship. There are many themes or lessons one can learn throughout the novel The Old Man and the Sea. Determination is one of the most important character traits Santiago portrays in this novel. It has been 84 days, and the protagonist has not caught a marketable fish that he can sell. Santiago depends on this because he is a poor man who does not have much. Despite the fact people in the town are now starting to lose hope in Santiago he does not give up. Santiago is determined to catch a fish no matter what it may take. Since Santiago has went to fish near shore he begins to think he will have more luck if he goes out further. As he takes a new route Santiago finally finds a fish but it is very hard to catch so he is struggling to kill it. As he waits for a perfect time to launch an attack to kill it he says “I’ll...
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...Literary Analysis In “The Old Man and the Sea” Ernest Hemingway writes about an old Cuban fisherman named Santiago. The story begins with Santiago fishing alone after having gone eight-four days without catching a fish. A boy, Manolin, fishes with Santiago for the first forty days, but Manolin’s father subsequently forbids him to continue fishing with the old man because the village perceives Santiago to be unlucky and too old to fish. On the eighty-fifth day, Santiago, alone, departs for the sea before sunrise. This begins Santiago’s exhausting three-day struggle to capture and bring home an enormous marlin; thereby redeeming himself to the villagers. The first day Santiago hooks the marlin, only to have it drag his skiff far out to sea. He knows he is not prepared to be out to sea so far and keeps hoping the marlin will come up for air so he can kill it with a spear. The second day the reader rejoices. Santiago kills the marlin only to find the fish too large to fit in the skiff. The old fisherman lashes the fish to the side of the skiff and hopes the sharks won’t attack. The third day sharks attack the dead marlin again and again. Santiago tries to protect his prize catch but is ill prepared. The sharks are unrelenting and leave only the marlin’s skeleton for Santiago to bring to the village. In this novella, Hemingway unites the reader with setting, character, and conflict to tell a tale of “grace under pressure.” Cuba and the Gulf Stream is the setting for...
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...While at sea the old man, Santiago, not only faces battles of strength, but also perseverance. Santiago has had more than a person should have of bad luck within his fishing career. Despite his old age, he wants to make up for all of the fish that he didn’t catch in his eighty-four days of bad luck. The relationship that the old man has with the sea and the creatures of the sea is what gives him hope and the endurance to not give up. Endurance is having the strength and courage to keep moving forward to reach your goal, no matter what battles may try to get in the way of that goal. On his fishing journey, the old man catches a big marlin that really puts his endurance to the test. One quote that was said by Santiago was, “I may not be as strong as I think, but I know many tricks and I have resolution.” (23) This quote from the book is saying that the old man is aware that he is not as strong as he used to be when he was a young fisherman; however, he is wise enough to keep moving forward. He has had enough experience at sea to know what to do when something goes wrong, and he knows how to control a strong fish that puts up a fight such as the marlin that he caught. Santiago was willing to do anything to hold on to the big fish and to stop it from getting off of the line....
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...“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship” (Louisa May Alcott). This quote definitely applies to Santiago, an old, native fisherman living in Cuba. In the book The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway depicts a story about a humble, wise, persevering man fishing off the coast of Havana, Cuba. Throughout the novel Santiago is beat down, tired and weary but due to his character traits is “destroyed but not defeated” (Hemingway 103). This quote has a powerful meaning throughout the book as Santiago learns to sail his ship of life through the troubling storms of the world. Hemingway paints Santiago’s deterioration throughout the first part of the novella. Right away, the reader is informed that Santiago “had gone eighty...
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...A Long Way Gone: Examples of Bravery There is estimated to be 250,000 child soldiers in the world. They are forced to kill and mutilate people, sometimes their own families. In the memoir A Long Way Gone Ishmael Beah recalls his experiences as a boy soldier, and the impact it had on his life. Ishmael met many people along the way that helped him in his race to find safety. These people were very brave and took many risks for his safety. The people Ishmael show along the way show bravery many times. Early in the memoir, Ishmael and his friends showed bravery when they decided to sneak back to Mattru Jong in order to get the money that had left behind. At this point in the memoir, Mattru Jong had been overtaken by rebels, so returning to this particular village meant that ishmael and friends risked being shot, mutilated, or forced to become boy soldiers. However, without that money they would not be able to buy food and would face starvation. Fortunately, Ishmael and friends were able to secure the money, but faced life-threatening at every turn of the journey. Recalling the danger of crawling through an open clearing to avoid rebel gunfire, Ishmael states, “We started to crawl across the clearing at the signal of the first group that had it across...There were dead bodies everywhere and flies were feasting on the congealed blood on them” (Beah 28). Ishmael had the inner strength to remain calm and make it through this horrifying situation. Throughout the memoir, Ishmael demonstrates...
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...In the novella, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway and the movie The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger have many similarities in the main characters. The main similarities that Santiago and Billy Tyne share are their pride, the losses they both have, and how they are both treated throughout their days of being a fisherman. Santiago is the main character in the novella, The Old Man and the Sea. He is an older man who is a fisherman where recently he has not caught any fish for eighty-four days. His pride is to keep fishing and trying to catch something so people in his village would stop laughing at him because he has not caught a single fish for a long time. Even though he has not caught anything for that amount of time and listens...
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...The novella The Old Man and the Sea written by Ernest Hemingway describes the journey of an unlucky fisherman named Santiago. He is unlucky because he is a fisherman who has not been able to catch a fish for eighty-seven days. This is ironic because he is a fisherman who cannot catch a fish. Throughout the course of the book, Santiago is faced with many circumstances that change him in many ways. In the novella, the theme is luck. Luck is prosperity or good fortune. Due to the challenges and circumstances that Santiago is faced with, his views on luck change during the course of the book. “The Hemingway Code Hero” by Professor Yeo, Kyung-Woo, Ph.D states that Hemingway usually creates characters in his works based characteristics of a Hemingway...
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