After reading this novel for the first time,I can’t stop thinking:why is this novel famous?None of us don’t know Hemingway’s “The iceberg principle”，so if you taste carefully , you’ll find out so much social realities under his simple stories，and this may be one of the correct answer to the question.
In this book,Hemingway created an old man.Most of readers regard him as a poor person ,for 84 consecutive days did not catch fish, for the boy who take care of him had been taken away ,for he had almost lost the spoils which made him exhausted and almost killed .But beyond the bad luck ,I think ,there was still something lucky remained .For there was still a considerate boy who care about him, for eighty-fifth days at sea after two days and nights of fighting ,finally captured the big marlin a more than 1500 pound, for he could got back home safely.
From the book, we can easily find out that the marlin is symbolized as the spectacular work, which is also a reflect of the Hemingway’s late hard life, but he never yields to the fade., instead, he always push himself to achieve his great goal, to prove his ability. As for the sea, it is always regarded as a kind women by the old man, he depends on her to some extent because he can sense the unique peace. The old man and his strong character contains the writer’s unyielding spirit. Many readers appreciate the old man as a hero, but I’d rather regard the greatest quality of this book as authenticity, as well as ordinary. It’s true that the old man fought with the huge fish, fought for his reputation as a hero, but this was just a simple part of his ordinary life. During the words in the book, I can experience the equality between the human and the natural, the old man fight against the fate, struggle against the natural. I can see the warmth and cold of the world.
I can see the old man is rich.He stands for bravery, he has his big dreams, and true friends, even if only a few. Though he had to struggle to survive，he never lack of spiritual wealth.I can see the old man’s spirit. Santiago fought with more than five sharks, the bad weather and others’ laughing eyes .This is a lonely journey, but never did he give up, never did he look back. As the famous quote in this book says:“But a man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”
However, I can also see the old man’s deficiency. The old man said that his father was a fisherman, and DiMaggio, the base ball star’s father was also a fisherman but he finally got a chance to played in the Big Leagues. These what implied Santiago’s envy. Actually, Santiago, the old man, was not resigned to be a fish man all his life, it’s himself but not someone else who pushed him to be like that. There is a famous sentence in this book:“Besides, he thought, everything kills everything else in some way.Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me alive. ”That was absolutely true that fishing support the old man to alive, but it also killed him in some way, it cut him off from the outside world, it put out a barrier between him and the outside world.The old man wished to have a radio so he could listen to the baseball news during fishing. That shows his longing to see the world, to pursue a different life. But he finally didn't make a move, this was his weakness. We are like Santiago. People refuse to accept unfamiliar things, so that they miss opportunity easily. We always worry too much about the unknown future and then lost the confidence to learn something new. But anyway, limit exists everywhere.All people will reach his or her limit.
I can see the quality of never give up. Santiago reached his limit, and he did not give up. As for the old man, he has endured a lengthy spell during which he could catch no fish, and Hemingway had gone a decade without publishing a highly acclaimed novel. But they fight and grow during the hard work ,to make the limit become more and more fragile.It's their spirit that take them to the light.
I can see an absolutely successful old man. What is failure? Maybe it is something seems not succeeding. And who are called losers? Maybe the poor one or someone who can not achieve his or her goal? And then the old man seems to be a failure person. But I regard this as an absolutely wrong opinion. At the time when the old man came back from the sea with shabby clothes, exhausted body, and a tremendous fish bone, he was a hero without doubt. Though covered with sores, he could defeat everything because he had conquered himself.
Actually, in our life, there is always sometime we can’t hold on to our dreams.During such times, the pain is intense, the fear is beyond comprehension and the confusion is great. So we should lift up our heads, overlooks the sea, and try to find out the old man, standing there on his boat, smiling and waving to you.
