Book/Film Review- 2
The old man and the sea
By- Ernest
Hemingway
Maple Press,
Rs. 75
“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.”
This novel- ‘the old man and the sea’ has proved itself to be one of the enduring works of American literature and it has got popularity as Hemingway’s last major work that tells a story about friendship, care, respect and survival.
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| The novel cover (Picture by R. Suresh Bhardwaj) |
One who has been a student of English literature
will be familiar with Ernest Hemingway who is a well-known American writer and
journalist. He was an excellent story-teller and majority of his works revolved
around the theme of loss, violence and death caused by the First World War that
led to the futility of human existence.
In the ‘The old man and the sea’ he narrates
the story of an old fisherman, Santiago, whose long struggle isn’t over one
fish, but with the act of living-fully, actively and robustly.
Story starts with the continuous failure of
eighty-four days without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy has been
with him. But after forty days without a fish the boy’s parents has told him
that the old man is definitely and finally salao, which is the worst form of unlucky, and the boy has gone at
their orders at an another boat which caught three gold fish the first week.
Story grows up with—has old age robbed him
of his once great skill? Or is he just having bad luck? And so many like will
his scarred hands ever again pull in a prized catch?
Hemingway’s novel shows how the life and death gives big lessons to man during his depressing struggle. When the old man was watching the sea with the hope of getting a single fish, he wanted to sleep and eat. He held onto the rope as though his life depends on it. In this scene of struggle, Hemingway shows the masculinity of a simple man in a simple habitat. He demonstrates how heroism is possible in even the most seemingly humdrum circumstances.
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