The Old Man and The Sea

          The Old Man and The Sea, short heroic novel by Ernest Hemingway, published in 1952 and awarded in 1953 the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It was his last major work of fiction. The story centers on an aging fisherman who engages in an epic battle to catch giant Marlin.

          The old man named Santiago has gone 84 days without catching a fish. So unfortunately Manolin is forbidden to go for fishing with Santiago and he is ordered by his parents to go with other successful fisherman, but he keeps taking care of the old man till the end. On 85 day as usual old man goes for fishing and thinks that he should go deep into the sea in order to catch fish. As some time passes he got a big fish named Marlin who was bigger than he could expect. The old man has to stay a day, a night, a day and another night has it was bringing him farther out from the shore. The Marlin possesses great strength and endurance which allows it to drag Santiago's boat for a long distance for a long time. The old man kills the Marlin after much struggle and fills relief. On his way back to home with Marlin he has to face a new problem where swarm of sharks came and started eating the body of Marlin. When he was fighting with sharks he has lost all his resources. Finally when Santiago reaches the shore at that time only the skeleton of Marlin is left. This novel is open ended and it constantly swings between hope and despair.

Characters:

• Santiago - old Cuban fisherman
• Manolin - the boy who is Santiago's friend
• The giant Marlin (symbolic)
• The Sharks (symbolic)
• The Sea (symbolic)
• Joe DiMaggio (symbolic)

1.     Can you mark a critical phase of your life.

        When I was five years old from that till now I'm faced many problems due to my dry eyes problem. Firstly I have to change my schooling from English medium to Gujarati medium in seventh standard. Next thing I faced was that I have to change my stream from Science to Arts because in Science stream the reading is more and I could not cope-up with it. During my schooling time also my parents use to read and I use listen and face the examination. When I was going through all this things in life I was not having any kind of friends or someone to whom I can share my problem with. I was having my only parents who motivated me and helped me in over coming it.

2.     Do you have any such person whom you recall in the crisis?

        Yes, I have that person to whom I recall in crisis and that person is my grandpa and my father, but my grandpa is now no more in this world.

3.     What is the importance of that person? Why?

        As I mentioned above my grandpa is more so now I share my problem and everything with my father. Whenever I share my any problem with my father he never tells me that I should do this only, but instead he tell pros and cons of it and then he leaves the decision on me. If I say that then my father is my backbone and an very important person in life. He is the only one to whom I can share my each and every thing without any fear and would not judge me. He would guide me without being angry on me.

4.     What is the importance of dream of lions in the novel?

        Santiago associates the lions with his youth. It suggests a circular nature of life. In his dreams he imagines the lions, fierce predators, playing which suggests harmony between the opposing forces - life and death, love and hate, destruction and regeneration. 

5.     Do you have any such scene or image you frequently like to visit?

6.     What is the reason of your obsession for that scene?

        No, I don't have any such image till now in my life that I would frequently visit or obsession for it. As I'm living with my parents so I have very secured, protected and dependent life. I haven't face any such type to struggle in my life.

7.     Replace the old man with yourself. How would be the approach if you fail like the old man in life?

        As I have faced many failure in my life and also sacrificed my dreams so like old man I would also not loose hope and keep on trying to prove myself with different and new ways. If needed in life then I take a break or rest but I would never give up. To reach my goal I have struggled a lot and fought with many people so I would not give up after coming so near to it.