Reading Report

The Old Man and the Sea is a short story written by Hemingway, a famous writer.This story is so classic that almost everyone knows it. When I was in primary school, I was asked by my teacher to read The Old Man and the Sea.When I went to junior high school,The Old Man and the Sea had become one of the compulsory books in Chinese textbooks. “A man can be destroyed, but they can't be defeated”this famous saying in the book I heard before I read this book.

This semester, I read The Old Man and the Sea again with my previous shallow understanding of the Chinese version of this book. Although The Old Man and the Sea is a short story, I still continued to read it for two months. Most of the front pages of the book are about how the old man fished in the deep sea but got nothing. The language is very simple and straightforward, which makes people feel low after reading. The old man didn't catch any fish for more than 80 days. Everyone either laughed at him or sympathized with him. No one paid any attention to him. Only the boy stayed with him, and the bar owner could help him to barely eat. Every day, they could only watch baseball news. What a loss! But the old man insisted on fishing. For an old man, going to sea to catch fish is an adventure. But for the old man with tough temperament, this was just a small obstacle. In the following story, the old man met a greater challenge.

Facing the big fish, he was as calm and confident as a young man. He fought and consumed with the big fish patiently, even though the big fish dragged him to the open sea, which made him strangle his hands and break his cheeks. This confidence was indestructible in the old man's mind. He once mentioned in his conversation with the boy he may not be as strong as I thought, the old man said, “but I know many unique skills and have determination.”The old man was not incompetent. However, although he is an excellent fisherman, he can't let those fish get on his hook. Everyone will encounter such a dilemma, as if fate is telling you not to persist.

But the old man was not depressed and did not give up. He still insisted on fishing, continued to go to sea and challenged the limit. He finally caught a fish. This was not an ordinary fish in the pond, but a 6 meter long, 1500 kg marlin. A man of more than 100 kg, a small boat of 4 meters long, faced this fish of more than 1500 kg. In this fierce battle between fish and people, the fish stayed underwater for several days and nights, making the old man unable to rest. In fact, as long as the old man cuts off the fishing line, he can extricate himself from the predicament and be liberated, but this also means that he is defeated in the confrontation between man and fish.

The old man never thought of giving up fighting. He regarded the marlin as a respectable enemy, fighting beyond the limits again and again, and he defeated it. But with it came many sharks who wanted to eat marlin. Facing these fierce sharks, the old man resisted and killed many sharks. When there is a knife, use the knife. When the knife breaks, use the paddle. At last, there is really no weapon. The old man's struggle can only end. In the fight against fish in Santiago, the long-term high intensity consumption brought him to a state of confusion. He always saw black spots in front of his eyes, and he almost passed out twice. He was not afraid of death, but fought against big fish and sharks with all his remaining strength.

What is failure and what is victory? The old man did his best and finally brought back a huge fish bone. Did he fail? It may be true in the secular definition. If a person fails to achieve the expected purpose when doing something, it is failure. But nine out of ten life is not satisfactory. Sometimes we don't give up when encountering difficulties, and we are willing to face difficulties when encountering our own limits. This is not a real failure. Although it is not a success, how many people can achieve real success in this world, and we should admire those who can stick to the last moment like the old people.In the face of their own limits, to break through their own life experience ups and downs in the face of failure. After reading this short story, I felt like I had a cup of strong tea. I didn't feel much after I took a sip of it. When I tasted it carefully and it was still at night, I realized how powerful it was. The attitude of the old man when facing the limit is something that most people cannot do. The old man did not bring back the big fish completely, but he was not defeated by setbacks, just like the classic saying"A man can be destroyed, but not defeated".

2022-12-01

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