老人与海book report

The Old Man and the Sea

The

Old

Man

and

the

Sea

is

a

novel

written

by

Ernest

Hemingway

in

Cuba in 1951 and published in 1952, and five million copies of the magazine

were sold in two days. It was one of Hemingway

’

s most famous works. The

story is happened in mid-20

th

century in Cuba, the main character is Santiago

who is an old Cuban fisherman. Hemingway writes the novel in third person.

The Old Man and the Sea

also became a Book-of-the Month selection, and

made Hemingway a celebrity.

Hemingway

told

the

story

in

a

simple,

brittle

way.

In

the

story,

the

main

character,

Santiago,

surpasses

many

hardships

for

getting

respect

and

being

successful. Hemingway pays great attention to the skills that Santiago uses in

coping with the giant marlin.

It began by describing that the fisherman, who is named Santiago, has gone

84 days without catching any fish. Many people in the village think that he can

no longer fish. And his apprentice, a young man named Manolin, has gone to

work for another boat. On the eighty- fifth day, the fisherman sets out into the

open sea and goes a little further because he wants to catch a fish. At noon, a

big Marlin takes hold of on the line, but the fish is too big for him to handle.

Santiago

and

his

boat

are

dragged

out

to

sea

for

one

day

and

two

nights,

what

’s worse,

the old man bears the tension of the line on his body. Though he

is wounded by the marlin, Santiago does not give up for the adversary, finally,

the enormous fish grows tired; and Santiago kills it. But Santiago is a still far

out from sea, he drags the Marlin behind the boat and the blood from the dead

fish attracts sharks.

Santiago does his best to beat the sharks away, but he is almost exhausted.

The sharks eat the meat of the Marlin, and Santiago is left with only the bones.

Santiago gets back to shore tiredly; the only thing he can show is the bones of

the

large

Marlin.

Once

home,

he

goes

to

bed

and

falls

into

a

deep

sleep.

Manolin, worried about the old man, finding him sleeping. When the old man

wakes,

they

promise

to

fish

together

once

with

just

the

bone

remains of the fish, the experience has changed him; he wins the respect of his

village.

From

the

story

we

can

find

that

there

is

a

unique

relationship

between

Santiago and Manolin. The old man is seen with the boy at the beginning and

at the end. The old man teaches Manolin about fishing and life, and makes the

boy feel mature and responsible. The boy is the companion of the man, takes

care

of

the

man

and

gives

the

man

hope.

Without

him,

Santiago

will

feel

lonelier and hopeless.