Hemingway reading reaction pp. 13b-22a

Let's first look at a brief summary outline of today's passages.

1. Fishing preparation with tools and baits set up (pp. 13)

2. Sun rising, old man waiting patiently for fish to bite the bait (pp. 13-14)

3. Thinking and talking to himself from time to time (pp. 14)

4. A man-of-war bird circling again and again above the sea, hinting where there may be fish (pp. 14)

5. Old man following the bird to ship his oars with lots of psychological activity (pp. 14-17)

6. Sun setting, fish hooked, dragging the old man in the skiff to the further ocean (pp. 17-22)

Since it's a novel, it's not easy to summarize the progress of the story in a few phrases without losing the main phases; however, an otherwise detailed summary would be unnecessary. This is my opinion, as I am just beginning to learn to write summary outline. Now my response follows.

The boy is not with the old man fishing. It's the old man alone.

The old man, going 84 days without luck, is still admirably optimistic, thinking to himself, "Every day is a new day." (pp. 14) He persists keeping the fishing lines straighter than anyone does and being precise in the depth the hook should go. He won't let go of any luck that comes toward him. He's well prepared. Yes, fishing, that's what he was born for. That's also what he is dying for, which I can read out from the lines.

As the old man ships his oars into the far out, the story goes far out, too. In Hemingway's description, the ocean is extremely charming with mystical phosphorescence, attracting the old man's body, mind and soul. It's really breath-taking to read the pages where the old man finds the fish come and go, then he gets a big fish hooked (at least supposedly), cannot see what the fish looks like, but keeps being dragged away in his skiff by the fish. In the ocean of life, we, like the old fisherman, are also fishing something. Working hard toward it, we may believe we finally have something hooked, yet gradually we get lost with the things we are pursuing. More on this next week.

REFERENCE:

Hemingway, E. (1951). The Old Man and the Sea (pp. 13-22). Retrieved February 18, 2014, from https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_Xu94L2z5lDNDgzZjIyNDctYWQ0OS00Zjk5LWFhOTMtMDkxYTUzMTZhNWY0/edit?hl=en_US