January Book Review, The Old Man and the Sea

1. Santiago is the old fisherman in the book. He is old and wrinkled. He has many scars from the handling of many fish in his past years. His eyes are the color of the see but always remain cheerful and determined.

2. Santiago is very intelegent and knows alot about ships, the sea, and fishing. He is also a very humble person. Never sticking his chest out far when he catches a big fish. He, all the way through out his life is determined. Even when he hadnt caught a fish for 84 days he still tried to find a way to bring in a fish. He also makes great sacrafices for his fishing job and the biggest one of all is when he went out so far just to catch a fish.

3. When everything failed and nothing was working and he couldnt catch fish, what motivated him to continue fishing. His pride kept him going through all hard ships. When the prized marlin was eaten by sharks he got mad at himself, but he kept going by showing pride. This pride that he showed also made the village people look higher upon him. When he fought the fish for three days, he felt as though the fish and him were very equally matched and this gave him great pride to know that he was such a good fisherman to be equally matched to such a great fish.

4. One conflict that Santiago faced was the drought of catching fish. It was hard for him to keep going because he was old. He couldnt decide wether or not to continue fishing or to just quit. He kept fishing and was rewarded in the end by things more valuable than catching the big fish. The biggest conflict he had was with the fish. He faught this fish for three days neither gaining or losing. All the pain that he felt for fighting the fish on and on eventually ruined his body. Until the third day the fish finally tires and he was able to reel the fish in. It was the largest fish he had ever seen, but as he tries to take it home the fish gets eaten by sharks.

5. Santiago changes alot through out the novel on the inside. The fight with the fish may not have been as physicaly rewarding as he had hoped but it also proved a great deal to himself. It proved that he was a great fisherman and gave him a great deal of pride. The fight with this fish also represented something. It represented the fact that Santiago would never quit. When something would be pulling him down he would fight back as hard as he can, sacraficing his body.

6. While reading the book i could only make one connection and that was how hard he tried at what he does. For me this relates to basketball. I may struggle sometimes but i try as hard as I can to get back on track and do what I do best.

7. In my opinion i liked the character. He showed alot of heart and passion for what he did that now-a-days we may lack in alot of things. Santiago almost seemed to be christ like in someways. In his fighting with the fish and the sharks it seemed as though nothing could beat him, and all of his physical suffering eventually leads to a greater spiritual triumph.