joonsooyoon

As my first experience with Hemingway, I found his sense and style of prose to be incredibly distinct and powerful. In its simplicity and conciseness, I felt the novel formed such a strong, concrete image of the ocean, the old man, the marlin. While at times I find complex, intricate, and poetic sentences to be enjoyable, I find Hemingway’s prose evoked life with directness. It felt as though he wrote life and its struggles exactly as reality presents them.

The novel itself, of an old man and a marlin, of sharks and the sea, is deeply symbolic. The allusions to Christ through the mast and Santiago’s pain, the dreams of a younger self within the golden lions, and the marlin all added a mythic weight to the story. However, I admired most the concrete struggle and purity Hemingway captured. The core of the novel is not its symbolism—it is, in the end, just a story of an old man and the sea. That clarity, I believe, gave the novel greater strength of interpretation.

I believe this novel illustrates an admiration for the human spirit, its potential for greatness and perseverance. With straight, unflinching prose and symbolism, this story represents a mature outlook upon the world. Whether read for its symbolic meaning or simply as a story of Santiago’s struggles, the novel shows the human experience and the undying strength latent within humanity.