2. The Old Man and the Sea

The Old Man and the Sea

by

Ernest Hemingway 

Outline story

Eighty-four days had passed since Santiago, the old fisherman, had caught a fish, and he was forced to suffer not only the ridicule of younger fishermen, but near-starvation as well. Moreover, Santiago had lost his young companion, a boy named Mandolin, whose father had ordered him to leave Santiago in order to work with more successful seamen. But the devoted child still loved Santiago, and each day brought food and bait to his shack, where they indulged in their favorite pastime: talking about the American baseball leagues. The old man's hero was the New York Yankees' Joe DiMaggio. Santiago identified with the ballplayer's skill and discipline, and declared he would like to take the great DiMaggio fishing some time.

After visiting one particular afternoon, the boy left Santiago, who fell asleep. Lions immediately filled his dreams. As a boy he had sailed to Africa and had seen lions on the beaches. Now, as an old man, he constantly dreamed of the great and noble beasts.

He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of Great occurrences, nor of great fish, nor fights nor contests of strength, nor of his wife. He only dreamed of places now and of the lions on the beach ... He loved them as he loved the boy.

Before dawn of the next day, the fisherman, as usual, hauled his salt-encrusted skiff onto the beach and set out by himself. But today, in hopes of breaking his unlucky streak, he was determined to sail into deep waters, out much farther than the other anglers would go. He followed the sea birds and flying fish; they would tell him b y their movements where the fish congregated.

He watched the turtles swimming near his boat. He loved the turtles, "with their elegance and speed... "

Most people are Heartless about turtles because a turtle's heart will beat for hours after he has been cut tip and butchered. The old man thought, I have such a heart too ...

Early on, Santiago managed to land a ten pound tuna. Thinking this a good omen, he used the fresh meat to bait one of his lines. By now he was far away from land, and much farther out than all the other fishermen. Resisting the temptation to sleep or to let his mind wander, Santiago concentrated on his lines reaching deep into the dark green waters.

At noon he felt a bite. Testing his line, he guessed that it must be a marlin nibbling at the tuna bait. "He must be huge," the old man thought, and waited anxiously for a strike. Suddenly, the fish took the bait entirely and began to swim furiously out to sea, dragging the boat behind him. The fish was so powerful that Santiago was helpless to stop him; he could only brace himself against the weight placed on the taut line that cut across his shoulders and hold on until the fish exhausted its strength. Darkness fell, and still the fish swam steadily out to sea. The seaman spent a grueling night with the line looped painfully round his back. Though he was weak, old and all alone, Santiago knew many tricks, and possessed skills the young men yet lacked. Besides, he loved the sea with a passion and had faith that she would handle him with reverent, though bitter, kindness. Once, when the fish gave a sudden tug, the line slashed Santiago's cheek. "Fish," the old man vowed softly, "I'll stay with you until I am dead."

Then he began to pity the great fish that he had hooked. He is wonderful and strange and who knows how old he is, he thought ... Perhaps he is too wise to jump. He could ruin me by jumping or by a wild rush. But perhaps he has been hooked many times before and he knows that this is how he should make his fight. He cannot know that it is only one man against him, or that it is an old man ...

His choice had been to stay in the deep dark water far out beyond all snares and traps and treacheries. My choice was to go there to find him beyond all people .... Now we are joined together and have been since noon. And no one to help either of us.

By morning of the second day the fish was still beading northward; vigorous, seemingly tireless strokes of its tail guided it forward. There was no land in sight. A stiffening cramp in Santiago's left hand, a wicked slice in his right, and his shivering from cold was hampering his work. "I wish I had the boy," he said aloud.

All at once the fish surfaced and leaped into the air. Santiago marveled at the enormous, lavender marlin, two feet longer than the boat itself - the biggest fish the old man had ever seen.

Once again the fish set out, relentlessly towing the boat. Santiago could do nothing but hold on and wait.

Sitting in the hot afternoon sun, Santiago cut strips from the tuna and chewed them slowly. He drank sparingly. Throughout his ordeal, he spoketo his only friends: the birds that came to rest on the side of the skiff. He spoke to his brother, the great fish. He also addressed his cramped hands and arms, as though they like himself and the fish, were in their own, detached struggles for survival. His mind constantly returned to baseball, the lions - and Manolin. Over and over he longed for the boy to be with him, to help him land the fish and to take his mind from his cut hand and aching back. He wondered how the Yankees were doing, envying the younger fishermen who could afford radios in their boats to listen to the games. He thought of DiMaggio, wondering if the "Yankee Clipper" would stay with a fish as long as Santiago had stayed with this one. "I am sure he would and more since he is young and strong," he thought. "Also his father was a fisherman."

At one point, Santiago fell into a daydream about an arm-wrestling match he'd had as a young man. The contest with "the great negro ... who was the strongest man on the docks" had lasted twenty-four hours, but Santaigo had held out - and won.

Amid these reveries, night fell again. Santiago allowed himself a moment's sleep, and dreamed of the lions. All night he instinctively played the line.

At sunrise on the third day, the marlin began to circle; and after hours of struggling, the drained and dizzy fisherman finally managed to bring the fish close to the surface. Then, on one of its many passes by the side of the boat, the old man took aim and drove the harpoon with all his strength into its side. The fish "came alive, with death in him"; it shook violently, rose high out of the water, hung in the air, then fell in a great mist of salt spray. Its struggle over, now it floated, motionless...... I think the great DiMaggio would be proud of me today," said the old man.

After resting his sore muscles and sipping some water, Santiago examined his catch. Far too big to be brought into the boat, the fish had to be lashed alongside it. Santiago soaked his hands in the salt water and tried to keep his head clear. He mused on his great prize, which seemingly sailed next to his boat. "Is he bringing me in or am I bringing him in?" the old man thought. "Let him bring me in if it pleases him. I am only better than him through trickery and he meant me no harm." Still, the fish would bring him fame and fortune when he arrived in Havana Harbor.

But Santiago's problems were far from over; he was still a day's journey from land, and he knew that the fish's blood would attract sharks.

And after a short time, the swift, hungry makos and hammerheads did come. Without fear, they began tearing hunks of flesh from the marlin. Despite Santiago's all-day resolute efforts to kill and beat them off, sharks continued to close in, hitting the carcass again and again. His hands and arms bleeding and raw, the weary sailor was beaten - the sharks would leave him nothing but a huge skeleton. He bowed his head: "I'm sorry, fish."

Not until deep into the night did Santiago steer his skiff into the quiet village harbor. Dutifully, he beached his skiff, dragged his mast and sails into their shed, and finally crawled off to his shack, to welcome slumber.

The next morning, Manolin came to Santiago's shack and found his old friend. "The boy saw that the old man was breathing and then he saw the old man's hands and he started to cry." All the way down the road, as he retrieved some coffee for Santiago, he cried.

When Santiago woke, the boy told him that he'd been presumed lost at sea, and that search planes had been dispatched to find him. The other fishermen had seen the marlin's skeleton and were astonished at its size - eighteen feet from nose to tail. Manolin brought the old man food, nursed his wounds, and firmly told the fisherman, "Now we fish together again." Then he left Santiago, to sleep. And the old man dreamed about the lions. 

1. Sons and Lovers

Sons and Lovers [1913]

D.H. Lawrence

 

  [There is no end to world’s list of best books. This blog is an attempt to list, summarize and review all that is best in the world of books. Some, like Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist made history by being translated into 62 languages, sold worldwide, and read by millions. Books like Gone With the Wind is read by successive generations since 1936. What qualified a title to be included in this blog, a reader may ask. Mere quantitative print out put or money earned by the author is not the criteria. Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea may not be translated into many languages; it might not be sold in millions as is the case with Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code; but its enduring message and the story-telling technique earn a place here.  A different blogger may hit upon a totally different set for reasons other than those I preferred.

   Each blog will deal with one title, with such features as its outline story, a brief biography of the author and its publishing history. The first one speaks of D.H. Lawrence’s Sons and Lovers.]

 

  Sons and Lovers, regarded as D.H. Lawrence’s masterpiece stands ninth in the list of one hundred best fiction titles drawn by the Publishers Guild. One wonders whether it is a novel or perhaps even a long short story. Because the reader has a feeling that Lawrence does not have enough material to fill over four hundred and odd pages. We may find waiting for something big to happen while the author reiterates, painfully yet convincingly, the same set of human emotions in similar scenes again and again. But the theme and the story telling technique are something unique, for they remain etched in the minds of the readers.

  Sons and Lovers is an epic tale of an English family and its relationships to each member. It highlights the mythic of conflict between a mother and her son, a recurring theme in western myth and religion. It is the famous psychologist Sigmund Freud who first postulated that fathers are antagonists to their sons, while the sons themselves are bonded to their mothers. To Freud mother is the object of desire in her son’s psyche. This is the so-called Oedipus complex. Mother is at the heart of all conflicts in most mythological stories, and she is the ultimate threshold guardian to the hero’s guarded entry into a higher plane of consciousness and wisdom. Lawrence in Sons and Lovers handles this cyclical nature of myth through the generational passing of sons of a family becoming adults.

  Keeping Oedipus complex at its base Sons and Lovers tells us the story of its hero, Paul, and his relationship with his mother. Paul is hopelessly devoted to his mother, and their love often borders on romantic desire. Lawrence writes many scenes between the two that go beyond the bounds of conventional mother-son love. To complete the oedipal equation, Paul hates his father and often dreams of his death. Paul’s love for his mother is often transferred to two girls of his romantic interests, Miriam and Clara. But he feels guilty at the thought of his waiting mother, which invariably leads to misery and infighting that ends in his loneliness.

 Storyline

  Sons and Lovers is set in the small coalmining town of Bestwood, England, in the backdrop of the new industrial age.

  Miss.Gertrude Coppard meets a rough and muscular miner, by name Walter Morel, at a Christmas dance and falls head over heels in love. But soon after her marriage to the miner she realizes the difficulties of living off her husband’s meager salary in a rented house. The couple often fights and Walter, after a day’s work, retreats to the bar and takes to drinking. Gradually, Mrs. Morel's affections shift to her sons, beginning with the first son, William. As a boy, William is so attached to his mother that he doesn't even enjoy the company of friends or outdoor life. As he grows older, he defends her against his father's occasional violence. Eventually, he leaves home for a job in London, where he begins to rise up into the middle class. He is engaged, but he detests the girl's superficiality. When he dies in London Mrs. Morel is heartbroken. But when Paul, her second son, catches pneumonia, she rediscovers her love. This time her love for Paul is so deep and complete that she neglects her husband. The story now starts revolving around the relationship between Paul and his mother. She puts her heart and soul in the upbringing of the teenage son, Paul. Both share a very emotional and loving relationship. The mother does not have a happy married life and Paul does not like his father.

  Paul works in a surgical appliances factory. As a result of working in the factory, he falls sick and is nursed back to health by one Miriam Leivers and he falls in love with her. Miriam is a girl of very religious bent of mind. Both share a completely platonic and intense relationship which is at once disliked by Paul’s mother, for she feels that Miriam is trying to steal her son away from her. Paul is afraid to leave his mother though he wants to go out on his own and experience love. The lovers often take long walks and have intellectual conversations about books. Miriam’s intense religious temperament is resented by both Paul and his mother. And Miriam does not like the mother’s over protective attitude towards her son. Time passes by, and Paul reaches his 20’s. Now he is quite passionate and romantic and makes love to Miriam, thus putting an end to his early rapturous innocent relation with her as he does not want to get stuck up in marriage.  Paul begins to resist her further advances, and his mother looks down on Miriam.  The lovers drift apart.

  At work, Paul meets Clara Dawes, a married older woman who has left her husband. But this relationship is also bound to doom as Clara’s husband, Baxter Dawes, one day returns and beats up Paul for having sex with his wife.  Paul’s mother is detected with the presence of a tumor and eventually dies only to be remembered by her son. Paul brings about a reunion between Clara and her husband by befriending both of them. Miriam, his first love returns and appeals to Paul to marry her. But he refuses and gets lost in his own inner darkness.

  This is a story of a man and his emotional relationship with three women, mostly with his mother, that leads to many catastrophes in their respective lives. At the end he is left alone. The novel is a sad and poignant story of a mother and her son and their relationship that remains intact in the mind of the son even after the mother’s death.

D.H. Lawrence

  David Herbert Lawrence was born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, in central England. He was the fourth child of a struggling coal miner who was a heavy drinker. His mother was a former schoolteacher, greatly superior in education to her husband. Lawrence's childhood was dominated by poverty and friction between her parents. In a letter to his friend Rachel A Taylor he later wrote: "Their marriage life has been one carnal, bloody fight. I was born hating my father: as early as ever I can remember, I shivered with horror when he touched me. He was very bad before I was born." Encouraged by his mother, with whom he had a deep emotional bond and who figures as Mrs. Morel in his first novel, Sons and Lovers, Lawrence became interested in arts.

 Lawrence's best known work is Lady Chatterley’s Lover, first published privately in Florence in 1928. It tells of the love affair between a wealthy, married woman, and a man who works on her husband's estate. The book was banned for a time in both UK and the US as pornographic.

 D.H. Lawrence died in Venice, on March 2, 1930. Frieda (died in 1956) moved to the Kiowa Ranch and built a small memorial chapel to Lawrence; his ashes lie there. In 1950 she married Angelino Ravagli, a former Italian infantry officer, with whom she had started an affair in 1925.  Lawrence's ideas of sexual freedom invited several obscenity trials, which are still part of the relationship between literature and society. He saw sex and sexual intuition as a key to undistorted perception of reality and a way to unburden individual's frustrations in the new industrial culture.