The renowned author, Ernest Hemingway lived a life unlike many others. He was born July 2, 1899 in Cicero, Illinois. As a child he spent much of his time at his family’s cabin in Michigan, where he discovered his love for fishing, hunting, and the outdoors. In high school, Hemingway worked on his school newspaper, Trapeze and Tabula, writing primarily about sports. He discovered he had a love and a gift for writing, and immediately after graduation he became a journalist for the Kansas City Star, which majorly influenced his declarative and prose writing style as seen in his books. Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea proves that Hemingway is a man of deep faith by re-writing his life through use of characters and themes of the book.
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Hemingway’s life was full of admirable adventures but also many unfavorable events. At the start of his career, after working at the Kansas City Star, Hemingway went overseas to serve in World War I as an ambulance driver in the Italian army. He was awarded the Italian Medal of Bravery, but soon after, sustained injuries that landed him in a hospital in Milan. At the hospital he met his first of four wives, Agnes von Kurowsky. She left him soon after, and he was devastated. He characterizes himself as Santiago, the main character in The Old Man and the Sea, to create a reality the exact opposite of his actual life. Although the book does not state what happened exactly to his wife, I can infer that Santiago’s true love and only wife died without Santiago being emotionally ready for it: “Once there had been a tinted photograph of his wife on the wall but he had taken it down because it made him too lonely to see it and it was on the shelf in the corner under his clean shirt” (Hemingway 16). Hemingway wrote about Santiago’s true love dying because that was a better reality than trying, and failing, four times for a perfect relationship. Hemingway had convinced himself that this ideal reality could fill the emptiness he felt in his …show more content…
I argue that Hemingway was a man of deep faith, and he proved that by re-writing himself and his life into the story. Each person who reads The Old Man and The Sea may have a different interpretation of what the true meaning of the book is. Perception is a key factor in Hemingway’s life, Santiago’s life, and for anyone who reads The Old Man and the Sea. Perception is the way you think about or understand someone or something. My perception of the book may be different than someone else’s. Similarly Hemingway and Santiago’s perception was different as well. Happiness surrounds Hemingway, he just chooses to see the negatives in his life. Santiago realizes he has problems, but he chooses to see how lucky he is to have Manolin in his life and to be able to do what he was called to do: fish. Hemingway pulls emotions out of the reader, and the reader has to conclude the meaning of the book themselves. Hemingway’s life, The Old Man and The Sea, and the world today can all be looked at differently, and argued on. It depends on the way one chooses to perceive
Hemingway’s life was full of admirable adventures but also many unfavorable events. At the start of his career, after working at the Kansas City Star, Hemingway went overseas to serve in World War I as an ambulance driver in the Italian army. He was awarded the Italian Medal of Bravery, but soon after, sustained injuries that landed him in a hospital in Milan. At the hospital he met his first of four wives, Agnes von Kurowsky. She left him soon after, and he was devastated. He characterizes himself as Santiago, the main character in The Old Man and the Sea, to create a reality the exact opposite of his actual life. Although the book does not state what happened exactly to his wife, I can infer that Santiago’s true love and only wife died without Santiago being emotionally ready for it: “Once there had been a tinted photograph of his wife on the wall but he had taken it down because it made him too lonely to see it and it was on the shelf in the corner under his clean shirt” (Hemingway 16). Hemingway wrote about Santiago’s true love dying because that was a better reality than trying, and failing, four times for a perfect relationship. Hemingway had convinced himself that this ideal reality could fill the emptiness he felt in his …show more content…
I argue that Hemingway was a man of deep faith, and he proved that by re-writing himself and his life into the story. Each person who reads The Old Man and The Sea may have a different interpretation of what the true meaning of the book is. Perception is a key factor in Hemingway’s life, Santiago’s life, and for anyone who reads The Old Man and the Sea. Perception is the way you think about or understand someone or something. My perception of the book may be different than someone else’s. Similarly Hemingway and Santiago’s perception was different as well. Happiness surrounds Hemingway, he just chooses to see the negatives in his life. Santiago realizes he has problems, but he chooses to see how lucky he is to have Manolin in his life and to be able to do what he was called to do: fish. Hemingway pulls emotions out of the reader, and the reader has to conclude the meaning of the book themselves. Hemingway’s life, The Old Man and The Sea, and the world today can all be looked at differently, and argued on. It depends on the way one chooses to perceive