The Old Man and the Sea: Question 7

As I have expressed throughout several of my other blogs, I think that Hemingway’s writing style is a refreshing change from the normal, boring writing style where the author just leaves all of the thinking and interpreting of events up to the reader. I like closure, so for most of The Old Man and the Sea I was happy that when something started, it had a definite end so I would not have to guess what did or did not happen. As an ironic side note, I did watch every episode of Lost and if anyone else has watched more than 3 episodes, they will agree that closure is nowhere to be found, but change is good every so often I guess.

Hemingway also uses a unique writing style in that he does not use things like suspense or dialogue to build the story and climbing action. The only real dialogue was between the boy and the old man, the rest was just the old man talking to himself (and the fish, birds, and jellyfish, which was just as bad as talking to himself). On the subject of suspense, let’s be honest, everybody knew that the old man was going to catch the fish, but I guess it was kind of grey if the old man was going to make it back alive, but I always knew that he was going to survive. He was just too strong to die because of a mere fish.

The main way that Hemingway kept the readers reading was by making the old man such an admirable person and by showing his emotions, which helped the reader connect with the old man. The whole story is really just an emotional roller coaster, starting with showing how much the boy loves the old man and how weak he seems on the outside makes the reader feel the sense that we’re getting in on the “wrong” time in the story, he seemed to be a lot more interesting when he was younger, now he’s just a sad old man with bad luck. Then, when the old man goes out to sea and it talks of his skill that he still has, it seems that maybe there’s hope for the old man. Then, of course, comes the part where the marlin takes the bait and that makes the readers happy for the old man. Then, after the reader feels bad for the old man’s suffering, another happy moment happens when the old man gets the fish alongside the skiff and ties it to it. Then, there’s the part that makes the readers really mad, when the sharks start to eat away at the old man’s prized catch. Then at the very end, there comes hope that maybe the old man will be ok, now that his bad luck is over, and he has earned back his reputation

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1980. Kindle. Web. 21 June 2011.