Questions, Symbols, and Observations
For this section of The Old Man and the Sea, which goes until page 87, we encountered some of the more difficult themes and ideas in the book. Please write a minimum 10 sentence article reflecting on the book. Quote the book at least one time, and allow your reflection to be driven by questions you have about it. What do you wonder about what we’re reading?
Personally, I am always curious about the old man’s talk to himself. I attempt to track a pattern of what he says and what he thinks, to see if there is a discernible division, but I am at a loss to explain it adequately. Especially in this section, I wonder about his talking. Is he talking now to encourage himself? Or to fool himself? He asks 
the fish how he feels and then declares that “I feel good and my left hand is better.” And then in the next paragraph, we find out that “He did not truly feel good because the pain from the cord across his back had almost passed pain and gone into a dullness that he mistrusted” (74). In a sense, it is like he is playing the same game he played with the boy, pretending to have rice when he did not. But here, I wonder - will that hurt him or help him? Is it a character strength to encourage yourself of the strength you may have, even if your strength is questionable, or is it dangerous to deny the reality? I can’t say he’s denying the reality, as the text makes it clear he is aware of his weakness.
Maybe he is trying to appear strong only when he talks to the fish, as if he wants to appear stronger and more noble to the fish than he really is. Whatever the case, I haven’t decided completely yet. That will come later.
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Image Attribution:
Original image: ‘Black and white portrait‘ by: Linda Cronin
Filed under: Assignments, The Old Man and the Sea and
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