The Old Man and the Sea-Q.7

To make a story more interesting the author must use different writing techniques to engage his audience. Ernest Hemingway must know which ones to use because he did win a Nobel prize in literature among other awards for The Old Man and the Sea. The first of all of his wonderful techniques is the use of short, declarative sentences. As a sixteen-year-old in high school doing summer homework I am forever grateful for this style of writing. Hemingway's prose is very simple so you always know exactly what he is trying to say. Because the sentence structure is set up in this particular way the book can not last any longer than it does. If Hemingway were to expound on each and every statement then I know I would have given up on reading the thing.

Another technique used in The Old Man and the Sea is the use of mystery and suspense. The three day journey keeps the reader on the edge of his or her seat wondering if Santiago will ever make it back to shore! Who will outlive the other? The marlin or the old man? Will the sharks be the demise of both the marlin and the old man? What will happen now that he is back in the same boat, poor and hungry?! (See what I did with that pun about boats? Eh eh?) Anyway, the lesson of the novella could have been extremely boring and cliche if the author did not use suspense. The Old Man and the Sea totally could have been a trilogy.

The book also has a very serious tone to it. Writing or speaking about hard work, determination, and blood and gore does not usually have a light or happy connotation surrounding it. Using an old fisherman instead of a young one could also be why we take the message so seriously. Ernest Hemingway used the right amount of words to get his point across about the serious and mysterious tone of his novella.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.