Thursday, April 25, 2013

THE OLD MAN TRYING TO SURVIVE

Amanda Crochetiere
4-23-13  Block:B


Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. Scribner Paperback Fiction,  1952.
Genre: Fiction




 



The story is about an old man trying to catch a marlin. It takes place in the sea. He is poor and trying to get food. He had good luck until the sharks came. He caught a marlin. It took 3 days to catch a marlin. When is finally got the marlin he needed to bring it back home so he could eat and get money for it. On his way back the sharks came and they ate the marlin. By the time the old man got back all that was left was bones of the marlin.



“This book is a triumph of the bare necessities. The old man goes far out to sea in a flimsy wooden boat, fishing with only a hook, line and bait. Alone, he manages to catch a thousand-pound, eighteen-foot marlin. A life and death struggle ensues as the old man works the fish for days trying to bring it in, but his struggle has only begun as he has to battle the sharks in order to keep his prize.”-Garry L. Morey, Amazon.com



I agree with this quote because he is taking a risk.  At his age he shouldn’t be fishing alone in the ocean. He is old and weak. He is struggling to get food and trying to survive. But it’s hard to find a marlin in the sea because of the sharks.


“The old man was thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck.  The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea were on his cheeks.  The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his hands had the deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish on the cords” (pg. 9-10).


“Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated” (pg.10).


I felt bad for him because he was working so hard and he has cancer and its not good for him.  He may die.


“A man can be destroyed but not defeated”  You lost something but you can’t stop trying and never give up hope.



I can relate to this story because my grandmother had cancer and passed away from it.  I have faced many struggles just like the old man, but I keep on trying.  The story of the old man was interesting and it explains how he gets things he needs.  He doesn’t go to a grocery store, the market is in the sea.  He takes chances to find fish.  The  old man  was defeated by the sharks but it did not destroy him.  The sharks stole his marlin, but there are always more in the sea.






I give this 4 Paws = Pounce on it