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A review by yoongitloml
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
3.0
“Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.”
Here, for a change, is a fish tale that actually does honor to the author. It also led directly to his receipt of the Nobel Prize in 1954 (an award Hemingway gladly accepted, despite his earlier observation that "no son of a b*tch that ever won the Nobel Prize ever wrote anything worth reading afterwards"). A half century later, it's still easy to see why. This tale of an aged Cuban fisherman going head-to-head (or hand-to-fin) with a magnificent marlin encapsulates Hemingway's favorite motifs of physical and moral challenge.
" 'But man is not made for defeat’ he said. ‘A man can be destroyed, but not defeated.' ”
At first look, the story appears to be a simple tale of an old fisherman but, there's much more to the story. It's a tale of bravery and heroism, a man's struggle against his own doubts and how he eventually succeeds, then fails, and then wins again. This old man tells a fundamental human truth that in this world, from our first breath to our last wish, through victories and failures the only thing that sustains us, ultimately, is HOPE. Never give up Hope. Walk on with hope in your heart, and you'll never walk alone.
Here, for a change, is a fish tale that actually does honor to the author. It also led directly to his receipt of the Nobel Prize in 1954 (an award Hemingway gladly accepted, despite his earlier observation that "no son of a b*tch that ever won the Nobel Prize ever wrote anything worth reading afterwards"). A half century later, it's still easy to see why. This tale of an aged Cuban fisherman going head-to-head (or hand-to-fin) with a magnificent marlin encapsulates Hemingway's favorite motifs of physical and moral challenge.
" 'But man is not made for defeat’ he said. ‘A man can be destroyed, but not defeated.' ”
At first look, the story appears to be a simple tale of an old fisherman but, there's much more to the story. It's a tale of bravery and heroism, a man's struggle against his own doubts and how he eventually succeeds, then fails, and then wins again. This old man tells a fundamental human truth that in this world, from our first breath to our last wish, through victories and failures the only thing that sustains us, ultimately, is HOPE. Never give up Hope. Walk on with hope in your heart, and you'll never walk alone.