Literary Journal #7 : The Old Man and the Sea

Sea is a source of life. The gifts she gives are endless and infinite. At the same time, sea is violent. When she is having a bad day, she likes to throw her anger at vulnerable men and women.

Sea is a popular literary theme and background. To ancient play writers to 20th century American writers, sea has been a place of mystery where they seek to find the essence of human life. Beowulf had to cross the seas looking for his adventure and Herman Melville found his interest in sea men through "Moby Dick."

Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" is a classic masterpiece. As all of you know, it's a story of an old fisherman catching a giant marlin and losing it to the sharks. What makes this work a masterpiece is its frank and sympathetic view towards the nothingness of human life. Unlike many other novels, "The Old Man and the Sea" doesn't have either noticeable conflicts, except internal conflict of the old man, or complicated plot. Like the name of the book, it is just a simple story of an old man and an incidence he goes through. However, the theme and ideas this book make us reflect on is not that simple.

I saw the old man's solitude and vulnerability in the middle of the sea as a life of every human surviving through his days. Like the old man puts all of his energy left for the marlin, everyday people desperately look for chances of fortune and success. But when they lose things, they eventually realize it is the law of nature that things come and go.

Human life is full of frustration. Because we often don't admit that we are fallible existence, we are dominated by anger and agony when we fail. By the time we suffer enough from the frustration and stress, our life becomes like the old man's wrinkly tough skin.