The Old Man and the Sea- Required #3

There are a few things that are universal within this book that I think Ernest Hemingway did a great job on!

First off, he does a good job on knowing what it feels like to miss someone dearly. He says practically everyday how much the old man misses the young boy. Whenever I miss someone, I know that I am constantly thinking about it. Even if my mind wonders on a different topic, I always come back to thinking about how much I miss them. It doesn't even have to be someone or something you miss, it can be anxiety about something like school starting back up (which is what I am constantly thinking about.), a job interview, or having to ask someone a difficult question that you don't want to ask them. Your mind keeps on coming back to that. Hemingway did a fantastic job on that part, and that alone should be rewarded for understanding human nature because practically everyone does that. I do it all the time.

Another thing that I like about this book is the other things that Santiago seems to think about. Since he was out at sea with not a lot of stuff to entertain him (I don't think some people understand how lucky we are to live in a time where we have so many portable devices to entertain us on a whim.) he was left with his thoughts and the fish. I remember him thinking about what is and is not considered sin (which I thought was so special, I wrote a blog on it), and the young boy (obviously), and other things along that nature. He understands that we are constantly thinking and when we're maybe sad about stuff, we'll tend to think about more depressing things. Whenever we're happy we're like "oh yay! happiness is so great blahblah..." You get the idea.... The old man didn't have too many happy thoughts, which is kind of sad.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.