Summary Of The Old Man And The Sea By Hemingway

After reading “The Old Man and the Sea”, written by Ernest Hemingway, I learnt and realized that the legacy created during ones’ life, lives on even after death. The creating of legacies relates to when Santiago rows over the Great Well, a part of the sea with the sudden depth of 700 fathoms, on his way out to sea. As he rows over the Great Well, he describes all sorts of fish that live in this part of the sea. However, Santiago refuses to catch these fish because he only wanted to catch a big fish that was further out in the sea. Hemingway quotes: “… he rowed over the part of the ocean that the fishermen called the great well because there was a sudden deep of seven hundred fathoms where all sorts of fish congregated.” (Hemingway, 19). This

I have always believed that if one works hard enough their hard work will be recognized by everyone. Their story of how they achieved greatness will be told, and their legacy will live on. However, Hemingway states: “That afternoon there was a party of tourists at the Terrance and looking down in the water ... a woman saw a great long spine with a huge tail at the end that lifted and swung with the tide… ‘What’s that?’ she asked a waiter … pointed to the long backbone of the great fish that was now just garbage… ‘Tiburon,’ the waiter said, ‘Eshark.’… ‘I didn’t know sharks had such handsome, beautifully formed tails.’ ‘I didn’t either,’ her male companion said.” (Hemingway, 92). From this, I saw that not everyone’s hard work is recognized by others. The tourists didn’t realize the carcass they were looking at was the one of the great marlin, the greatest the fishermen have ever seen. Santiago nearly lost his life attempting to catch it and bring it home as a prize to feed his people. This shows that Santiago’s efforts were largely overlooked, and his legacy will only be known by the fishermen. This is what I disliked about the story. No matter what we do, no matter how big of a prize we bring home, our hard work will always be overlooked and unappreciated, and only a few will know what we’ve gone through to get there. However, even though it is the fishermen only who recognize and appreciate Santiago’s hard work, at least there are people who will remember Santiago’s legacy as the great fisherman who caught the biggest fish ever seen and keep it alive after he