Resumo de The Old Man And The Sea, 1952

The Old Man And The Sea is considered by many to be one of Hemingway's best stories. It is centred around an old man who has gone eighty-four days without catching a fish, and who goes out on the eighty-fifth and lands one that is bigger than anything he has caught before. Essentially, it is Hemingway's musings on the bravery and strength that can emerge within the common man, and it is well-expressed through his stripped-down narrative style. This style is, however, very difficult to appreciate at first. There is obviously no room for wasted words, and he gets straight to the point even on page one, depicting the old man and his plight right from the off. The dialogue can seem to be very wooden, as if it were written by a child, almost, and sometimes you can't help but think that certain areas need more expansion if they are to have an appropriate impact. On the other hand, one cannot fail to be caught up in the intense emotions portrayed, especially when the fish, which is strapped to the side of the boat after it has been caught, is eaten by sharks, and all the old man is left with is a skeleton. The joy of the story is that most people will be able to relate to the old man's struggles, with the fish, the sharks, and his own body. One of the more interesting of the dilemmas he is faced with is his hatred of his own left hand, which is clearly not as strong as his right.
When writing this, his seminal work, the piece that resurrected his career and effectively won him the Nobel prize, he was deeply influenced by his surroundings in Cuba - he surely based much of the story on a conglomeration of the features of different local fisherman. The story is a testament to those very fisherman, who go out and risk their lives, and occasionaly find something to make them famous. And yet, there are also American influences in the piece - the old man is a great baseball fan, and his hero is Joe DiMaggio, Throughout his ordeal, he frequently asks himself, "what would the great DiMaggio do?" This again is symbolic of people needing a role model, especially if they are to conquer their greatest challenges.
And so, The Old Man And The Sea is a powerful read. True, it can be a little tough going in places (I personally lost faith in some of Hemingway's style), but you cannot ignore the vein of beauty and simple strength that runs through it.

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