Essay About Ernest Hemingway And Popular Novels

Old Man Under the Sea
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The Old Man and the Sea
The Old Man and the Sea is one of Ernest Hemingways most popular novels. This particular novel
earned him the Pulitzer Prize in 1952 and the Nobel Prize in 1954. Before this time Hemingway was
in what people would call a rut. After Hemingway wrote this novel, it was considered to be a great
come back for the author. Hemingway also had several earlier successes before this novel came along,
they included The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls. Hemingway took his
experiences through this novel with him and by doing so, this is novel is what changed Hemingways as a
person, how he looked at the challenges he faced and the decisions he made throughout the stages of
life. Earlier in Hemingways life, he was in WWII, which meant he was one that seen the poverty that it
left behind, the families with no jobs, and no homes. I feel this is one experience that led to him trying
to regain himself.
This novel help Hemingway tell the story of an Old Cuban fisherman named Santiago, after
many trials and tribulations is forced on a fishing expedition alone, that which he was born for, (Harada
270) and returns to the village after three days to become a heroic figure of sorts. Santiago had gone
eighty-four days without making a catch, because of this, other fisherman in the village had began to
label Santiago as salao or unlucky (Hemingway 9). But with much faith, Manolin, a small boy who had
gone on several fishing trips with Sanitiago, still believed in him as a skilled fisherman. Manonlins
parents will no longer let him accompany Sanitiago on the fishing trips due to all the criticism.
During his fishing adventure, Sanitiago begins to question himself and doubt himself. With this
in mind after his big catch and struggling with the marlin for several days, he expresses his struggle by
saying, “a man can be destroyed but not defeated” (Hemingway 103). As this is said, you can see how