The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway

I seem to have made a mistake in the process of this website. I announced that I would be regularly reviewing the books that I read, yet this was at the same time in which I embarked on one of the longest books I have ever picked up: War and Peace. Months later, I am almost finished, so stay tuned for a great discussion on that book.

In the meantime, for the sake of that never-failing feeling of the satisfaction of closing a good book, I decided to pick up another Hemingway classic: The Old Man and the Sea. Ernest Hemingway has slowly emerged as one of my favorite authors. Way back as a 14-year-old in Freshman English class, we were forced to read For Whom the Bell Tolls. From that moment, I despised Hemingway, denouncing him as a pitiful American author. Years later, I could not agree more, had I only read that one book. Four years later, after my freshman year of college, I was taking one of my leisurely strolls through the Barnes and Nobles in Orland Park, and came across the ‘H’ portion of the fiction section. Touching the binding of every book as I walked, I stopped on H for Hemingway. I thought to myself, there must be some reason he’s one of the greats. Everyone deserves a second chance. I purchased The Sun Also Rises and my entire opinions of a man, a generation, and the power of words was forever changed. The love story of Jack and Brett, intertwined around the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, captures the brash man Hemingway was in real life.

Growing up in my back yard in Oak Park, Illinois, Hemingway started his adult life in the army. As an ambulance driver on the Italian front during WWI, Hemingway got a first glance at war, a topic that inspired much of his work including, A Farewell to Arms. If killing one’s brother was ever a fitting place for a young man, the masculinity and bravery that surrounds war was certainly fitting for a young Ernest Hemingway. In fact, after the war, he took up big game hunting in Africa, deep sea fishing off Cuba, and was overall just your typical man’s man. While The Sun Also Rises painted the killing of a bull as a majestic art, Hemingway’s to the point short story, The Old Man and the Sea, perfectly encapsulates what it means to be a man; at least, according to Hemingway. This 107-page story (depending on which version you get) is not a word too long, nor a sentence too short. Never in my life have I read a work so complete; every single word adds value; every punctuation mark has its home.

From the front cover, the simplicity of Hemingway’s words and the value they carry, is consistent through the end of the story. The title: The Old Man and the Sea - so simplistic. So, what is this story about? You guessed it: an old man and the sea. Hemingway doesn’t even go so far as to refer to the old man by name; he is simply, "the old man." Yes, we learn his name is Santiago, but for the vast majority, he is just the old man. Why does Hemingway do this? Because the subject, Santiago, isn’t important. The subject of the thrill, of the three nights alone on the ocean battling a massive swordfish, that is what is important. We don’t sympathize with the old man because we know his name; we sympathize with the old man because of the rope cutting into his back, because of the nausea he feels eating raw fish, because he “loves [the fish] and respects [the fish] very much. But [he] will kill [the fish] dead before this day ends.” Hemingway removes the human name from the story to focus on the raw human emotion. His name could be Santiago, Francisco, Michael, or even yours, but we are all the old man when we read this story. We are all the old man on the sea, alone for days. We are all able to feel his innate human emotion, and for this, I am deeply grateful that reading such words were able to transcend me to another place.

In fact, I was in Rome this summer when I turned the last page and put down the book. Having forgotten where I was, I looked up, smiled to myself, nodded, and slowly took in my surroundings. No longer was I in Cuba off a small fishing boat; but rather in an Italian café. This is the power that Hemingway’s words have. For anyone desperate for an adventure and a quick read, go no further than The Old Man and the Sea. And for anyone that has given up on an author after one book, remember: everyone deserves one more chance. Below are some of my favorite quotes from the book.

Mike's Quotes:

- “Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.”

- “Let him think that I am more man than I am and I will be so.”

- “Don’t think old man. Sail on this course and take it when it comes.”

- “It is not bad. And pain does not matter to a man.”

- “He was still sleeping on his face and the boy was sitting by him watching him. The old man was dreaming about lions.”