Book Thoughts: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hemingway's impact on 20th century American writing has oft been stated in various things I have read; but despite that, I have only ever read one book by Hemingway - "The Sun Also Rises." Despite really enjoying the crispness of the writing in that work, and how it seems to perfectly capture the growing sentiment of the so-called "Lost Generation" of writers, I had never read anything else by Hemingway. This book was available on a special deal, so I decided to give it a whirl.

I imagine most people's feelings about the book will come down to what think of Hemingway; but while I enjoyed the crisp, direct writing style again, as well as the symbolism utilized by Hemingway in a story almost reminiscent of a fable, I did not enjoy this as much as "The Sun Also Rises." (Which, to be fair, I really like; so it's not really a slam against this book). While "The Sun Also Rises" captured the powerlessness of a generation so well following World War II, the metaphor in this book just doesn't connect for me.

At least in my reading and interpretation, the metaphor is pretty blunt - an old man trying to secure a final act of manhood, engages in an almost mythical battle against a fish that of similarly mythic proportions; he succeeds, only to have "bounty" of that battle - the fish itself, devoured by sharks before he can get back to shore. The symbolism of the pointlessness and fruitlessness of the work, the pursuit, is bluntly laid out to the reader. In so doing, I think Hemingway gives his readers a choice in how to interpret life - is there beauty and identity and character in the struggle of living; or is every pursuit, no matter how seemingly noble at the time, ultimately lead to nothingness?

I suppose how someone answers this questions says much more about the reader than Hemingway. What I do think is enduring about Hemingway is the consistency of the theme of a helplessness in the face of the universe. I have always thought that "The Sun Also Rises" captures amazingly well the sense of being nothing more than a leaf on the wind, of being simply an object subject to external physical forces. "The Old Man and the Sea" presents the same sense, but doesn't reach a conclusion in the same way "The Sun Also Rises" does. Rather, it makes the reader decide.

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