The Old Man and the Sea

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For other uses, see The Old Man and the Sea (disambiguation). The Old Man and the Sea is a novel[2] written by the American author Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Cuba, and published in 1952. It was the last major work of fiction to be produced by Hemingway and published in his lifetime. One of his most famous works, it centers upon Santiago, an agingfisherman who struggles with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream.[3] The Old Man and the Sea was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953 and was cited by the Nobel Committee as contributing to the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature to Hemingway in 1954.

Plot summary[edit]
The Old Man and the Sea is the story of a battle between an old, experienced fisherman and a large marlin. The novel opens with the explanation that the fisherman, who is named Santiago, has gone 84 days without catching a fish. Santiago is considered "salao", the worst form of unluckiness. In fact, he is so unlucky that his young apprentice, Manolin, has been forbidden by his parents to sail with the old man and been ordered to fish with more successful fishermen. Still dedicated to the old man, however, the boy visits Santiago's shack each night, hauling back his fishing gear, getting him food and discussing American baseball and his favorite player Joe DiMaggio. Santiago tells Manolin that on the next day, he will venture far out into the Gulf Stream, north of Cuba in the Straits of Florida to fish, confident that his unlucky streak is near its end. Thus on the eighty-fifth day, Santiago sets out alone, taking his skiff far onto the Gulf Stream. He sets his lines and, by noon of the first day, a big fish that he is sure is a marlintakes his bait. Unable to pull in the great marlin, Santiago instead finds the fish pulling his skiff. Two days and two nights pass in this manner, during which the old man bears the tension of the line with his body. Though he is wounded by the struggle and in pain, Santiago expresses a compassionate appreciation for his adversary, often referring to him as a brother. He also determines that because of the fish's great dignity, no one will be worthy of eating the marlin. On the third day of the ordeal, the fish begins to circle the skiff, indicating his tiredness to the old man. Santiago, now completely worn out and almost in delirium, uses all the strength he has left in him to pull the fish onto its side and stab the marlin with a harpoon, ending the long battle between the old man and the tenacious fish. Santiago straps the marlin to the side of his skiff and heads home, thinking about the high price the fish will bring him at the market and how many people he will feed. While Santiago continues his journey back to the shore, sharks are attracted to the trail of blood left by the marlin in the water. The first, a great mako shark, Santiago kills with his harpoon, losing that weapon in the process. He makes a new harpoon by strapping his knife to the end of an oar to help ward off the next line of sharks; in total, five sharks are slain and many others are driven away. But the sharks keep coming, and by nightfall the sharks have almost devoured the marlin's entire carcass, leaving a skeleton consisting mostly of its backbone, its tail and its head. Finally reaching the shore before dawn on the next day, Santiago struggles on the way to his shack, carrying the heavy mast on his shoulder. Once home, he slumps onto his bed and falls into a deep sleep. A group of fishermen gather the next day around the boat where the fish's skeleton is still

attached. One of the fishermen measures it to be 18 feet (5.5 m) from nose to tail. Tourists at the nearby caf mistakenly take it for a shark. Manolin, worried during the old man's endeavor, cries upon finding him safe asleep. The boy brings him newspapers and coffee. When the old man wakes, they promise to fish together once again. Upon his return to sleep, Santiago dreams of his youth of lions on an African beach.

Background and publication[edit]

Written in 1951, and published in 1952, The Old Man and the Sea is Hemingway's final work published [4] during his lifetime. The book, dedicated to Hemingway's literary editor Maxwell Perkins, was featured in Life magazine on September 1, 1952, and five million copies of the magazine were sold in two [5] days. The Old Man and the Sea also became a Book of the Month selection, and made Hemingway a [6] celebrity. Published in book form on September 1, 1952, the first edition print run was 50,000 [7] copies. The illustrated edition featured black and white illustrations byCharles Tunnicliffe and Raymond [8] Sheppard. The novel received the Pulitzer Prize in May, 1952, and was specifically cited when he was [9][10] awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. The success of The Old Man and the Sea made [6] Hemingway an international celebrity. The Old Man and the Sea is taught at schools around the world [11] and continues to earn foreign royalties.
No good book has ever been written that has in it symbols arrived at beforehand and stuck in. ... I tried to make a real old man, a real boy, a real sea and a real fish and real sharks. But if I made them good and true enough they would mean many things. Ernest Hemingway in 1954[12]

Hemingway wanted to use the story of the old man, Santiago, to show the honor in struggle and to draw biblical parallels to life in his modern world. Possibly based on the character of Gregorio Fuentes, Hemingway had initially planned to use Santiago's story, which became The Old Man and the Sea, as part of an intimacy between mother and son and also the fact of relationships that cover most of the book relate to the Bible, which he referred to as "The Sea Book." (He also referred to the Bible as the "Sea of Knowledge" and other such things.) Some aspects of it did appear in the posthumously published Islands in the Stream. Hemingway mentions the real life experience of an old fisherman almost identical to that of [13][14] Santiago and his marlin in On the Blue Water: A Gulf Stream Letter (Esquire, April 1936).

Literary significance and criticism[edit]

The Old Man and the Sea served to reinvigorate Hemingway's literary reputation and prompted a reexamination of his entire body of work. The novel was initially received with much popularity; it restored many readers' confidence in Hemingway's capability as an author. Its publisher, Scribner's, on an early dust jacket, called the novel a "new classic," and many critics favorably compared it with such works as William Faulkner's "The Bear" and Herman Melville's Moby-Dick.

Santiago as a Spaniard[edit]
"'Eyes the Same Color of the Sea': Santiago's Expatriation from Spain and Ethnic Otherness in [15] Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea" focuses on the old man's national identity. Using baseball references, the article points out that Santiago was at least 22 years old when he moved from Spain to Cuba. "Born in Spains Canary Islands, Santiago moved to Cuba as a young man; this circumstan ce has

a significant impact on his social condition." Santiago was old enough to have a Spanish identity when he immigrated, and the article examined how being a foreigner (and from a country that colonized Cuba) would influence his life on the island. Because Santiago was too poor to move back to Spain many Spaniards moved to Cuba and then back to Spain at that timehe adopted Cuban culture like religious ceremonies, Cuban Spanish, and fishing in skiffs in order to acculturate in the new country. Gregorio Fuentes, who many critics believe was an inspiration for Santiago, was a blue-eyed man born on Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. After going to sea at age ten on ships that called in African ports, he migrated permanently to Cuba when he was 22. After 82 years in Cuba, Fuentes attempted to reclaim his [17] Spanish citizenship in 2001.

[16]

Religion as a motif[edit]
Joseph Waldmeir's essay "Confiteor Hominem: Ernest Hemingway's Religion of Man" is a favorable critical reading of the noveland one which has defined analytical considerations since. Perhaps the most memorable claim therein is Waldmeir's answer to the question What is the book's message? "The answer assumes a third level on which The Old Man and the Sea must be readas a sort of allegorical commentary on all his previous work, by means of which it may be established that the religious overtones of The Old Man and the Sea are not peculiar to that book among Hemingway's works, and that Hemingway has finally taken the decisive step in elevating what might be called his philosophy of Manhood to the level of a religion."
[18]

Waldmeir was one of the most prominent critics to wholly consider the function of the novel's Christian imagery, made most evident through Hemingway's obvious reference to the crucifixion of Christ following Santiago's sighting of the sharks that reads: "Ay, he said aloud. There is no translation for this word and perhaps it is just a noise such as a man might make, involuntarily, feeling the nail go through his hands and into the wood."

Santiago The novella's central character. A dedicated fisherman who taught Manolin everything he knows about fishing, Santiago is now old and poor and has gone 84 days without a catch. Manolin A young man from the fishing village who has fished with Santiago since the age of five and now cares for the old man. Manolin recently began fishing with another fisherman whom his parents consider luckier than Santiago. Martin The owner of the Terrace (his name is Spanish for St. Martin), he sends food and drink to Santiago through Manolin. Rogelio A man of the village who on occasion helps Santiago with the fishing net.

Perico A man at the bodega (his name is Spanish for St. Peter, an apostle and fisherman) who gives Santiago newspapers to read. Marlin An eighteen-foot bluish billfish and a catch of legendary proportions. Mako A mackerel shark (dentuso in Spanish) that is a voracious and frightening killer known for its rows of large, sharp teeth. Shovel-nosed sharks The scavenger sharks (galanos in Spanish) that destroy the marlin. Pedrico A fisherman in the village who looks after Santiago's skiff and gear and receives the marlin's head to use in fish traps. Tourists A man and woman at the Terrace who see the marlin's skeleton and, misunderstanding a waiter's explanation of what happened, think the skeleton is that of a shark.
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Great Expectations
Pip (Philip Pirrip, Handel) The narrator of the story who tells of his rise to wealth, his desertion of his true friends for that wealth and a chance with Estella, and his humbling by his own arrogance. At the end of the story he has learned wealth does not bring happiness. Joe Gargery The kind blacksmith married to Pip's sister who is the moral reference point for most characters in the story. In spite of Pip's snobbery, Joe remains faithful and loving to him and is always there in Pip's hour of need. Mrs. Joe Gargery (Georgiana M'Ria) Pip's abusive older sister who constantly reminds Pip of all she has done for him, especially "raising him up by hand." She is attacked by Orlick and later dies. Biddy The young girl from Pip's night classes who helps with Pip's sister after the attack and later marries Joe. She is Pip's early confidant and understands him well enough to see through him. Uncle Pumblechook Joe's pompous, self-important uncle who arranges for Pip to visit Miss Havisham's house and who arrogantly assumes himself to be the reason for Pip's good fortune. Dolge Orlick Joe's assistant in the forge, who is responsible for the attack on Mrs. Joe and who later tries to kill Pip. Mr. Wopsle (Mr. Waldengarver) A clerk in Pip's church who wants to be a clergyman but gives up and goes to London to be an actor. Mr. Trabb The local tailor and undertaker. Mr. Trabb's Boy Mr. Trabb's assistant, who ridicules Pip about his new station in life, but later helps rescue him from Orlick. Mr. and Mrs. Hubble Friends of Mr. and Mrs. Gargery. He is the town wheelwright, a person who builds and repairs wagon wheels. Mr. Wopsle's Great-Aunt The old woman who holds night classes for the village children and sleeps through the classes. Biddy is her granddaughter. Squires The proprietor of the Blue Boar, an inn in Pip's village. Philip Pirrip, late of this parish The inscription on the tombstone of Pip's father. It is how Pip refers to his father. Georgiana, wife of the above The inscription on the tombstone of Pip's mother. It is how he refers to his mother. Alexander, Bartholomew, Abraham, Tobias, Roger The names on the five little "lozenges" or tombstones next to those of Pip's parents. They are Pip's deceased brothers. Continued on next page...

SONS AND LOVERS

D.H. Lawrence
characters Gertrude Morel - The first protagonist of the novel. She becomes unhappy with her husband Walter and devotes herself to her children. Paul Morel - Paul Morel takes over from his mother as the protagonist in the second half of the book. After his brother Williams death, Paul becomes his mothers favorite and struggles throughout the novel to balance his love for her with his relationships with other women. Walter Morel - Gertrudes husband, a coal miner. William Morel - Their first son, who is Mrs. Morels favorite until he falls ill and dies. Annie Morel - Pauls older sister. When their mother lies dying toward the end of the novel, she and Paul decide to give her an overdose of morphia pills. Arthur Morel - Pauls younger brother, not central to the plot.

Miriam Leivers - The daughter of the family at Willey Farm. She befriends Paul and becomes his first love. Clara Dawes - A friend of Miriams, she is a suffragette, who is separated from her husband. She becomes Pauls second love, and they have a passionate affair. Baxter Dawes - Claras husband. He fights with Paul, but they later become friends while he is ill. Mrs. Radford - Claras mother. Thomas Jordan - The owner of the factory where Paul works. Paul dislikes him from their first interview because he is rude and makes Paul look foolish. He later fires Baxter Dawes because he knocks him down a flight of stairs. Louisa Lily Denys Western - A girl William sees in London, and to whom he becomes engaged. The rest of the family is less than impressed with her when he brings her home, and William shortly becomes sick of her as well. Mr. and Mrs. Leivers, Agatha, Edgar, Geoffrey, Maurice - The family who live at Willey Farm.

Fanny - A hunchback who works in the finishing-off room at the factory, who likes to have Paul come visit her to sing or talk. She organizes the other girls to get Paul a birthday present. John Field - A man with whom Gertrude is friendly when she is nineteen. He gives her a Bible, which she keeps for the rest of her life. From John she learns that being a man isnt everything. Jerry Purdy - Walter Morels bosom friend. Walter goes for a walk to Nottingham with Jerry, during which he takes the nap on the ground that eventually causes an illness. Mr. Heaton - The Congregational clergyman who visits with Mrs. Morel every day after Paul is born. He is Pauls godfather and teaches him French, German, and mathematics. Beatrice Wyld - A friend of the Morel family who ridicules Miriam and flirts with Paul. She eventually marries Arthur when he returns from the army.

Overall Summary of sons and lovers

The first part of the novel focuses on Mrs. Morel and her unhappy marriage to a drinking miner. She has many arguments with her husband, some of which have painful results: on separate occasions, she is locked out of the house and hit in the head with a drawer. Estranged from her husband, Mrs. Morel takes comfort in her four children, especially her sons. Her oldest son, William, is her favorite, and she is very upset when he takes a job in London and moves away from the family. When William sickens and dies a few years later, she is crushed, not even noticing the rest of her children until she almost loses Paul, her second son, as well. From that point on, Paul becomes the focus of her life, and the two seem to live for each other. Paul falls in love with Miriam Leivers, who lives on a farm not too far from the Morel family. They carry on a very intimate, but purely platonic, relationship for many years. Mrs. Morel does not approve of Miriam, and this may be the main reason that Paul does not marry her. He constantly wavers in his feelings toward her. Paul meets Clara Dawes, a suffragette who is separated from her husband, through Miriam. As he becomes closer with Clara and they begin to discuss his relationship with Miriam, she tells him that he should consider consummating their love and he returns to Miriam to see how she feels.

Paul and Miriam sleep together and are briefly happy, but shortly afterward Paul decides that he does not want to marry Miriam, and so he breaks off with her. She still feels that his soul belongs to her, and, in part agrees reluctantly. He realizes that he loves his mother most, however. After breaking off his relationship with Miriam, Paul begins to spend more time with Clara and they begin an extremely passionate affair. However, she does not want to divorce her husband Baxter, and so they can never be married. Pauls mother falls ill and he devotes much of his time to caring for her. When she finally dies, he is broken-hearted and, after a final plea from Miriam, goes off alone at the end of the novel.

Tess of the d'UrbervillesBy Thomas Hardy

Character List
Tess (Teresa) Durbeyfield The main character and heroine of the novel. She is beautiful and irresistible to men. She is also young, innocent, and uneducated unaware that the world is rife with lust, cruelty, and vanity. Alec d'Urberville Heir to d'Urberville fortune who has Tess brought to The Slopes with the hope of seducing her. He is the consummate playboy, who knows no bounds to debauch women. He ruins Tess and does not know that she has had his child until much later. He convinces Tess that Angel, her husband, will not return from Brazil, and he finally pays for his deceit with his life. Angel Clare Youngest son of Parson Clare of Emminster, who becomes Tess' husband. After the wedding, when he finally learns of Tess' past with Alec and her son Sorrow, he leaves her and spends the next year in Brazil. Angel eventually returns to England to reclaim Tess but finds her with Alec. After Alec's murder, Angel remains with Tess until her arrest and agrees to take Liza Lu as his wife after Tess meets her fate on the gallows. John Durbeyfield Tess' father. He is a haggler/higgler, a middleman who buys vegetables and poultry from wholesalers to sell to retailers. Uneducated and poor, he is shiftless, drinks to excess, and is not a good provider for his family, leaving them destitute when he dies. Joan Durbeyfield Tess' mother who does her best to raise her seven children. It is Joan's plan to sent Tess to "claim kin" with the d'Urbervilles. Joan fails to warn Tess of the desires of men and the meaning of love. Eliza-Louise (Liza Lu) Liza Lu is the second Durbeyfield child; she is twelve years old when the novel begins and appears in only a few chapters. In the end, Liza Lu and Angel are united, as Tess had asked, when Tess dies. Abraham, Hope, and Modesty Durbeyfield The other Durbeyfield children; Tess' younger siblings. Sorrow Durbeyfield/d'Urberville Tess' child with Alec d'Urberville, who dies in infancy. Parson and Mrs. Clare Angel's parents. Cuthbert and Felix Clare Angel's brothers. Parson Tringham The minister who tells John Durbeyfield of his lineage. Mrs. d'Urberville Alec's mother, a sixty-year-old widow who owns The Slopes. Mercy Chant The woman Angel's family wanted him to marry; she eventually marries Cuthbert Clare. Mr. Richard Crick Dairy farmer who owns Talbothays Dairy. He is kind to Tess and Angel. Izz Huett, Marian, and Retty Priddle Tess' friends at Talbothays and Flintcomb-Ash. All are also in love with Angel.

Farmer Groby Farmer in charge of Flintcomb-Ash, the second farm where Tess works. He is very hard and demanding. Mrs. Brooks Innkeeper at Sandbourne for The Herons, where Alec is murdered.

TESS OF THE DURBERVILLES

Plot summary
The poor peddler John Durbeyfield is stunned to learn that he is the descendent of an ancient noble family, the dUrbervilles. Meanwhile, Tess, his eldest daughter, joins the other village girls in the May Day dance, where Tess briefly exchanges glances with a young man. Mr. Durbeyfield and his wife decide to send Tess to the dUrberville mansion, where they hope Mrs. dUrberville will make Tesss fortune. In reality, Mrs. dUrberville is no relation to Tess at all: her husband, the merchant Simon Stokes, simply changed his name to dUrberville after he retired. But Tess does not know this fact, and when the lascivious Alec dUrberville, Mrs. dUrbervilles son, procures Tess a job tending fowls on the dUrberville estate, Tess has no choice but to accept, since she blames herself for an accident involving the familys horse, its only means of income. Tess spends several months at this job, resisting Alecs attempts to seduce her. Finally, Alec takes advantage of her in the woods one night after a fair. Tess knows she does not love Alec. She returns home to her family to give birth to Alecs child, whom she christens Sorrow. Sorrow dies soon after he is born, and Tess spends a miserable year at home before deciding to seek work elsewhere. She finally accepts a job as a milkmaid at the Talbothays Dairy. At Talbothays, Tess enjoys a period of contentment and happiness. She befriends three of her fellow milkmaidsIzz, Retty, and Marianand meets a man named Angel Clare, who turns out to be the man from the May Day dance at the beginning of the novel. Tess and Angel slowly fall in love. They grow closer throughout Tesss time at Talbothays, and she eventually accepts his proposal of marriage. Still, she is troubled by pangs of conscience and feels she should tell Angel about her past. She writes him a confessional note and slips it under his door, but it slides under the carpet and Angel never sees it. After their wedding, Angel and Tess both confess indiscretions: Angel tells Tess about an affair he had with an older woman in London, and Tess tells Angel about her history with Alec. Tess forgives Angel, but Angel cannot forgive Tess. He gives her some money and boards a ship bound for Brazil,

where he thinks he might establish a farm. He tells Tess he will try to accept her past but warns her not to try to join him until he comes for her. Tess struggles. She has a difficult time finding work and is forced to take a job at an unpleasant and unprosperous farm. She tries to visit Angels family but overhears his brothers discussing Angels poor marriage, so she leaves. She hears a wandering preacher speak and is stunned to discover that he is Alec dUrberville, who has been converted to Christianity by Angels father, the Reverend Clare. Alec and Tess are each shaken by their encounter, and Alec appallingly begs Tess never to tempt him again. Soon after, however, he again begs Tess to marry him, having turned his back on his -religious ways. Tess learns from her sister Liza-Lu that her mother is near death, and Tess is forced to return home to take care of her. Her mother recovers, but her father unexpectedly dies soon after. When the family is evicted from their home, Alec offers help. But Tess refuses to accept, knowing he only wants to obligate her to him again. At last, Angel decides to forgive his wife. He leaves Brazil, desperate to find her. Instead, he finds her mother, who tells him Tess has gone to a village called Sandbourne. There, he finds Tess in an expensive boardinghouse called The Herons, where he tells her he has forgiven her and begs her to take him back. Tess tells him he has come too late. She was unable to resist and went back to Alec dUrberville. Angel leaves in a daze, and, heartbroken to the point of madness, Tess goes upstairs and stabs her lover to death. When the landlady finds Alecs body, she raises an alarm, but Tess has already fled to find Angel. Angel agrees to help Tess, though he cannot quite believe that she has actually murdered Alec. They hide out in an empty mansion for a few days, then travel farther. When they come to Stonehenge, Tess goes to sleep, but when morning breaks shortly thereafter, a search party discovers them. Tess is arrested and sent to jail. Angel and Liza-Lu watch as a black flag is raised over the prison, signaling Tesss execution.