Why do we still read The Old Man and the Sea? Why do we still read any novel? The answer to that is to understand the lesson or message that the author is trying to portray through his characters. Ernest Hemingway wrote this novel to teach his audience about determination and the will to never give up. For almost everyone in the whole entire universe this lesson is applicable to there life. No matter how much of a privileged life you lead there is a different struggle for everyone. You could be struggling with the loss of someone close to you, keeping your life organized, or competing in something like a sport or a musical instrument. There are also those people who have nothing bad happen to them in life except for getting their phone taken away from them for a few days. Those are the types of people that need to read Santiago's story and understand that the world is so much bigger than they could even fathom.
Even though the type of fishing the old man does is much different than the commercial fishing companies today, he represents that small percent of people who are willing to work hard for what they earn. Reading this book in the modern day, I can see that in today's society Santiago could very well be a person who is homeless and sleeping in front of the Lincoln Library at night. We tend to judge the homeless before we let them tell their stories and some may assume they are lazy and do not want to better themselves. When the old man is being taunted by the young fishermen it is sad because they have never stopped to really listen to all that he has been through in his life.
Reading this book in the modern day can heighten your awareness of how hard you are truly working and how you treat others around you. Respect your elders!
Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.
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