I bought and downloaded Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" on my Kindle. It was extremely affordable and this version also sported some pen-and-ink style drawings throughout. It is a short book and one that I had not read previously.
"The Old Man and the Sea" tells the tale of an old man, Santiago by name, who is friends with a young boy. Santiago is a fisherman and that is much more to him than a hobby or even an occupation. It is an intrinsic part of his identity.
In the story, he had gone about eighty-five days without catching anything. He kept persisting in going out, though, hoping for a lucky day. The young boy he is friends with no longer fishes with him due to his parents' directive, in part related to the rather lengthy period of time when no fish were being caught with Santiago.
On the day of the story, he sails out rather far from shore and hooks an enormous fish. He ends up fighting with the fish for literally more than two days. The writing is epic in its delivery. Santiago ends up catching the fish and tying it to the side of the boat as, at eighteen feet, it is too large to fit in the boat. On his way back to Havana, sharks begin eating it. Santiago fights off several rounds of these attacks with minimal weapons and with even less energy. By the time he gets to shore, the meat is stripped off, but he still has the skeleton of his catch.
The book is occasionally haunting in its prose, but I wonder if that is due, in part, to knowing Hemingway later took his own life.
I wanted to share a handful of quotes on that note. First, "It is easy when you are beaten, he thought. I never knew how easy it was."
Earlier, while fighting the fish, the author comments, "I am not good for many more turns. Yes you are, he told himself. You're good for ever."
And, finally, even earlier in the book: "But I will show him what a man can do and what a man endures."
Santiago respects the fish. He sees it as almost noble. But he is in pursuit of a contest of wills that Santiago is intent on being victorious in. In a way, he was. In another way, he was still beaten. It's captivating.
I enjoyed "The Old Man and the Sea" much more than I thought I would. And I had high expectations for it, too, having enjoyed Hemingway's work previously. This is a must-read in my opinion and I'm glad to have finally gotten the chance to experience it.
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