13/04/2022 by Maria Soledad Aguila Luque
Web Maria Soledad Aguila Luque
The Old Man and the Sea is one of the great works of 20th-century English fiction, but it is also relatively easy to read.
It is short, for a start, at less tha fifty pages. Written in 1951 while Hemingway was living in Cuba, it was his last work and probably his most famous, winning him a Pulitzer prize.
Soon after writing it he also received the Novel Prize for Literature.
The plot of the Novel seems straightforward:
Santiago is eghty five years old, and lives in poverty in a little shack by the sea in Havanna, trying, and usually failing, to earn a living as a fisherman.
One day, Santiago sails far out to sea and there encounters an enormous marlin. Catching the fish and selling it at market would bring Santiago much need ed income.
But he attempt would be dangerous as he is an old man alone in shark-infested waters.
The simplicity of the story is deceptive, as the themes and symbolism behind ti are complex.
