Part V: What the heck do I write about now
So, I think I finished all the requirements and now I have no clue what to write about. The Old Man and the Sea (OMatS) is basically a hundred page, one-act story. It's deep, definitely has layers, but I don't know if I can talk about this book anymore. Actually, I think I'll just do a quick review. That sounds pretty good.
Out of ten, I'ma go ahead and give this book a well deserved four. My reasoning is pretty simple. Hemingway was a brilliant author (all-be-it an insecure, occasionally misogynistic author) with a lot of great works, and this one is INCREDIBLY overrated. I haven't read a ton of his works, but what I have beat out OMatS without a question.
A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway's other-much-accredited novel, is a far better war novel than OMatS, for example. As I've noted in previous posts, OMatS can be read as a war story. The old man's struggle with the natural world is described much the same as a soldier's struggle and could be seen as an extended metaphor for war. Santiago grows up in a different world without the kind of challenges he endures in this novel, just as men of the 19th Century grew up in a world without the harsh realities brought to light by World War I. But ultimately, these parallels are not direct enough to make a compelling case about a post-WWI society, in my opinion. A Farewell to Arms, on the other hand, is a story set with WWI as the backdrop, with a love story serving as the forefront. The themes of the story send a clear message, unlike the lofty ideals of OMatS.
In terms of literary originality, OMatS loses to some of the short stories we have read in class. The extended metaphors in the novel are not nearly as good as those presented in his story "Big Two-Hearted River," for instance. Some of the Christ stuff in OMatS is compelling, sure, but not as original as using a camping trip to capture the experience of WWI veterans.
I had another thought, but I got up to take a break and forgot it. Whatever. All in all, The Old Man and the Sea is fine. It's not particularly interesting, not too boring. I don't know. It's fine. Four out of ten, would not recommend.
Out of ten, I'ma go ahead and give this book a well deserved four. My reasoning is pretty simple. Hemingway was a brilliant author (all-be-it an insecure, occasionally misogynistic author) with a lot of great works, and this one is INCREDIBLY overrated. I haven't read a ton of his works, but what I have beat out OMatS without a question.
A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway's other-much-accredited novel, is a far better war novel than OMatS, for example. As I've noted in previous posts, OMatS can be read as a war story. The old man's struggle with the natural world is described much the same as a soldier's struggle and could be seen as an extended metaphor for war. Santiago grows up in a different world without the kind of challenges he endures in this novel, just as men of the 19th Century grew up in a world without the harsh realities brought to light by World War I. But ultimately, these parallels are not direct enough to make a compelling case about a post-WWI society, in my opinion. A Farewell to Arms, on the other hand, is a story set with WWI as the backdrop, with a love story serving as the forefront. The themes of the story send a clear message, unlike the lofty ideals of OMatS.
In terms of literary originality, OMatS loses to some of the short stories we have read in class. The extended metaphors in the novel are not nearly as good as those presented in his story "Big Two-Hearted River," for instance. Some of the Christ stuff in OMatS is compelling, sure, but not as original as using a camping trip to capture the experience of WWI veterans.
I had another thought, but I got up to take a break and forgot it. Whatever. All in all, The Old Man and the Sea is fine. It's not particularly interesting, not too boring. I don't know. It's fine. Four out of ten, would not recommend.
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