FREE ESSAY ON OLD MAN AND THE SEA AND OTHER STORIES

OLD MAN AND THE SEA AND OTHER STORIES

English: Book Report:
Hemingway's Old Man And The Sea July 03, 1998 
English Old Man and the Sea This part of the story has to do with Santiago against nature
and the sea. In this part of the story, he goes out and fights nature in the form of
terrible forces and dangerous creatures, among them, a marlin, sharks and hunger. He
starts the story in a small skiff and moves out in a journey to capture a fish after a
long losing streak of eighty-four days. Unfortunately his friend must desert him due to
this problem and a greater force, his parents. Santiago must go out into the danger
alone. For three harsh days and nights he fights a fish of enormous power. This is the
second form of nature he must conquer. Earlier in the story, the first part of nature is
himself, for which he must fight off his hunger. This is a harsh part of the story. He
manages though to get a few bites in the form of flying fish and dolphin of which he
would like to have salt on. This part of the story tells of a cold and harsh sea, that
is, one that has value and mystery as well as death and danger. It has commercial value
as well as the population of life in it. It is dark and treacherous though, and every day
there is a challenge. A similar story tells about a tidal pool with life called `Cannery
Road'. This part of the story has to deal with figures of Christ. It mainly deals with
Santiago as being a figure of Christ and other characters as props, that is, characters
which carry out the form of biblical themes. On the day before he leaves when he wakes
up, Manolin, his helper, comes to his aid with food and drink. Also a point that might be
good is that he has had bad luck with his goal for a great period of time and is sure it
will work this time. Later, though, when Santiago needs him for the quest he sets out to
do, Manolin deserts him, although he may not have wanted to at this time. In the novel
Santiago comes upon a force bigger than his skiff, the marlin which misleads him out far
past his intended reach. This is where he starts to lose his strength against something
which seems a greater force. Santiago has a struggle of three days, which is significent
because of the three days in Easter, and continues to fight on though his goal may not
aquire anything. This is another idea through which Christ did, a struggle to get a goal
done even though it may mean certain destruction to himself. This might accomplish
nothing but the satisfaction of doing this and also has great risks. Finally he comes
upon a painful experience with his hand which is in great pain and won't move. This is
useful in the place where Christ loses his physical self and has less to deal with. On
the third day, he recovers himself and returns to his home even though his only remaining
treasure was a broken skiff, experience, and a torn up marlin. And in the final
conclusion, you can see him dragging the mast of his skiff, a cross-like object, in his
hand. This story has a certain sequence of events, first it has a hunter vs. his prey.
This hunter does respect th e prey. Throughout the book it has this series of events:
encounter, battle, defeat, and respect for the prey. This is Hemmingway's `Code of
Honor'. This part of the novel has to do with relationships between two characters. The
first to discuss are Santiago and Manolin, Manolin being the small follower of the old
man named Santiago. Manolin is a small person that follows Santiago and listens to his
wisdom. They treat each other unfriendly though for Manolin calls the Santiago 'old man'
and he calls Manolin `boy' which seems to be absurd. In that situation I would consider
both of them to go see a doctor. The next relationship to talk about would be that
between Santiago and the village, which seems to be much better. He is given credit for
food and he also is waiting to show his greatness to the villageby catching a great fish
as soon as he can. His thought on that, though, is that any fisherman can ctach it during
the easy season but only a few can go out and catch one during the hard season. He has no
consideration for the luck, and would rather try to fish through being exact rather than
being lucky. The other relationship in this story has to do with Manolin and his parents.
Manolin seems to be very rebellious against his parents, although he does submit to their
demands. Santiago's greatest link to the village is the boy. Santiago may be poor in the
story, yet is proud. This story when compared to being imaginative is good, but in real
life is somewhat of a `Fish Story'. The part where an old man being able to load in a ton
of fish is very unimaginable. The scenario, though, is very interesting for the part of
the old man. He goes out all alone into the depths of the ocean without an idea for what
is in store. This story has good points, for when it comes to the better parts of the
story, it emphasizes by placing in mind step by step of the way he does certain actions.
The part of the story which, to the best of my belief, had no part or reference in the
story was the dream of lions on a beach of Africa, which this fisherman probably had
never even visited much less seeing lions on a beach. This was like most stories in the
main plot. First characters are introduced, then a threat reveals itself, showing true
natures of all the characters, and finally the threat is fought off or it remains,
leaving the reader in suspense. This had a good plot but needed more to go on in my
opinion. Hemingway's strong parts of this story are emphasized on vocabulary. He probably
learned these fisherman terms for he once was a fisherman in Cuba. There is one problem
to this, though. Throughout the story he uses these terms over and over although the
ordinary person, like me, would forget them after the first use of them and unfortunately
he doesn't ever re-coin the terms again throughout the book. Some vocabulary he uses
stands for sharks or the sea itself. Others he uses for bait. The main idea though in
this part is to let the reader get the feel for the life, setting and character of the
fisherman himself. This is a great move to place yet is also very hard to co-exist with
the average reader. This has some good points, though, and among them is review. The
reader must review the story and skim it in order to rethink the concept of the word.
Then he or she must return to the current position in the book and place it into the
text. The concept of vocabulary is a standard not to live by, and should not be placed
into most books unless the terms are to be used many times throughout the book. Hemingway
has merged three themes already mentioned above successfully unto this book. Among them
are figures of Christ, Nature (the sea), and a code of honor. This was challenging. The
obvious ones were nature, it's cruelty and compassion. Nature caused his hand pain yet
healed it, caused hunger yet satisfied it, and gave the fish yet reclaimed it. This is
the way nature works. Nature is actually more luck than a set of rules, for it can shift
back and forth with the greatest of ease. The second theme, religion, could not be easily
pulled from the text. The best clue to where it happens is the falls of Santiago as well
as his carrying the mast. This symbolizes the end of Christ, although Santiago on the
other hand is just retiring for the night. But it could be interpreted as the end of the
book for which it is. The code of honor is not actually probably the hardest to
interpret. It can only be pulled from context, which is the hardest to do. It has mainly
to do with the rise, battle and fall of the prey and respect following. The problem in
this is that Santiago was at fault for expanding out so far, and it was dangerous. This
is similiar to the book A Journey to the Center of the Earth, which I recently read. Back
to School Sucks 
English: Greek:
A vew of achilles on the Iliadand odesy December 10, 1998 
Bernardo Uribe English character: The Iliad 9/10/98 Achilles Achilles was the bravest,
strongest and most feared of the achian soldier, but pride and desire for revenge would
be of a very high expense. With his help victory for the Greek army could have been
easier, but instead he not only laid aside of battle, but he plead the gods that his own
army loses. His revenge against Agamemnon cost him his honor, the death of his best
friend Patroclus, and in the long run, his death. When Agamemnon sends for Briseis,
because he had to give away Cryseis, Achilles shows great wisdom by withdrawing himself
and all his troops of battle, but giving away the girl without any difficulty. By not
fighting, he shows that he has honor, and that he cannot be taken for granted, but he
still gives the girl away without battle, showing that he wont let his pride turn him
against his own army. A little later than Achilles had been separated from Braises, he
goes against all of this achievements, and asks his mother Thetas for help. He requests
his mother to influence with Zeus, so that the Trojans defeat his fellow Greek soldiers a
point they will require his help and realize what he is really worth to them. By
requesting this from his mother, Achilles shows that his hunger for revenge is grater as
time goes by. As Achilles hunger for revenge grows bigger he lets his principals get less
in the way of his personal satisfaction. All these nights I am absent from your side, and
not demanded back; you delay and your anger is slow. [Briseis to Achilles] With time
Achilles plan works, and Agamemnon comes to him for help, offering him to give him many
valuable presents and to return to him Briseis to make up for his mistake, but Achilles
doesn't accept this claming that he cannot be bought or sold. By the time Agamemnon
decides to respond to Achilles requests, Achilles' hunger for revenge had grown big
enough that he won't be satisfied until he sees the complete downfall of Agamemnon. Which
is compleatly unreseanoble, becouse he is going aginst his own troops with the only
pupose of revenging his injured pride. The only way Achilles understood that his revenge
was killing his own people, was when his best friend Patroclus, was already dead. Even
though he tried to revenge him, it was to late, his lousy attitude had killed Patroclus.
English: Greek:
Achilles Respect for Authority April 21, 1998 
Respect for authority plays an important role in The Iliad. Achilles is a major character
in it whose views on authority change throughout the book. In Book One, he seems to have
no respect for King Agamemnon. Achilles questions his judgment as well as rebelling
against his authority. This is shown best when Achilles says, What a worthless, burnt-out
coward I'd be called if I would submit to you and all your orders. (Pg. 87 line 43-45).
This is an outright lack of respect directed toward Agamemnon. By Book Twenty-four
however, his views seem to have changed. Achilles talks to King Priam of Troy with
respect. An example in Book twenty-four is when Achilles and King Priam weep together
over their losses. Book One portrays Achilles as an individualist. This was the accepted
way of life in the Bronze Age, which is when Achilles lived. The people who lived in
Greece during that era were very selfish and self-centered. Achilles is not the only
character in The Iliad who acts this way. Agamemnon, king of the Greeks, is also a very
selfish character in this epic poem. The conflicts between these two major characters
have catastrophic results. Because Agamemnon doesn't want to give up Chryseis, his
war-prize, Apollo cast a plague on the Greeks. Achilles goes to Agamemnon and asks him to
return the girl to her father so the plague will end. He agrees to return her, but he
doesn't want to be left empty-handed. He returns Chryseis to her home, and he takes
Briseis, a war-prize of Achilles. Achilles is so angry with Agamemnon that he vows to
stop helping him fight the Trojans. As the battle goes on, Agamemnon realizes how
important Achilles and his Myrmidons are to the Achaean troops. The King of the Greeks
then swallows his pride and offers gifts to Achilles if he will come back and help fight.
Achilles, however, is so stubborn that he refuses all the gifts and will not allow his
troops to fight. When he is offered the gifts he rudely responds, I hate the man
[Agamemnon] like the very gates of death who says one thing but hides another in his
heart.(Pg. 262 lines 378-379) This quote shows how much Achilles is hurt by what
Agamemnon has done. When Odysseus leaves Achilles' tent, Achilles best friend Patroclus
persuades Achilles to lend him his armor so the Trojans will think it is Achilles and
they will run away. This event ends with the death of Patroclus. Achilles then realized
that he lost his friend because he had refused Agamemnon's gifts and chose not to fight.
The death of his friend is also a result his lack of respect for the kings authority. If
he had done what Agamemnon said, none of this would have taken place. Achilles notices
this, and in Book Twenty-four, he has changed. After Achilles rejoins the battle and
avenges his friend's death by killing Hector, he tries to destroy the body by dragging it
behind his chariot. Zeus notices this and protects the body from deterioration and
physical destruction. He then sends Thetis, Achilles' mother, down to tell the warrior to
return the body to King Priam. He honors the wishes of his mother as well as the Gods.
This is one type of respect he shows, but he also shows respect to King Priam when he
comes to retrieve his son's corpse. After talking to King Priam, Achilles develops a bond
with Priam and sees the King as a father figure. With this new love for King Priam,
Achilles agrees to help him as much as he can. He grants Priam a truce for twelve days so
the Trojans can bury Hector, Achilles gives King Priam a place to sleep for the night,
and he has Hectors body washed. His respect for the King can be shown when Achilles says,
All will be done, old Priam, as you command. (Pg. 610 line 786). Achilles seems to have
changed his ways on dealing with authority figures.