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wtwt5237
07-13-2007, 03:15 AM
I open this thread following the suggestion by Wilhelm. Please share your opinions on it, every idea is welcome. This is a quick quote of what we have previously talked about:


Ok WtWt5237, I'll give my view on the old man and the sea.
First, i guess you shouldn't be too obsessed with trying to grasp symbolic meanings etc. It's rather straight forward. The old man, as I see it, is just a man at the end of his life. It seems his glory days are more or less over. Still he refuses to give in. He battles his downfall ('death' if you want) in the form of the wild ocean and of course the marlin/fish. The struggle leads to personal success, but not to acknowledgement in society, because he is just not part of that society anymore. As I said, times have changed, his glory days are over. Nobody but the boy is aware of the battle he has fought.
That's basically it, I believe. There are images you could go into, like some biblical symbols, but this is not the place to do that.
If you want to take the discussion further, I would suggest to open a new thread, because we don't want to ruin this one.
Sometimes I feel that this novel is somehow a little to verbose(too long, I mean). Some materials seem to be kind of pointless. A shorter novel will still be able be present what the novel we have now presents. Your opinion?
PS:The biblical symbols you mentioned remind me of something else. In the movie Matrix, you may notice a car number which indicates something in the Bible. But why did the director put the scene there? It is kind of difficult to be noticed and impossible to convey its meaning to non-believers who do not know the relationship between the number and the Bibble.
Maybe its obscurity is due to that I am a Chinese and know little about Bibble. :confused:

Wilhelm
07-13-2007, 07:49 AM
Nice question!
I don't have much time right now, but I'll give my short opinion on the length of the novel. For me, the length of the novel is just perfect. First of all, I would never use the word verbosity in connection with Hemingway. He is actually known for his 'sparse' style. He never uses more words than necessary, that's his main strenght as a writer.
Secondly, the novel basically needs this length to emphasize the struggle of Santiago. It helps the reader to feel/experience what Santiago is going through.

wtwt5237
07-14-2007, 10:11 AM
I remember the first time I read it in a bookstore ,wondering how much was still there, because I didn't get a chair to sit down. I was standing by the book shelf all the time.!:(
You mentioned sparse style. I noticed this kind of style in many works by various writers. Martin Eden and Les Miserables(if I don't get the names wrong) are among the list. Ancient Chinese novels are 'laconic' IMO compared to Western novels. This is what interests me when I make a comparison between Western and Chinese novels.
A little off topic, I am sorry