《老人与海》书评读后感

"The Old Man and the Sea" is truly an inspiring work from Hemingway. I've learned about old age, courage, pride, machismo, divinity in death and brotherhood. Also, this novella has given me insight into the life of a fisherman, the dangers they can face and the prizes they receive. I was also startled by the fact that Hemingway is really proud of machismo, and he shows this by presenting us Santiago, an old man who has a male bravado.

The story of the old man and the sea taken place in Cuba, Havana. An aged Cuban fisherman Santiago has set out to sea for eighty-four days, but every time returned empty-handed. And his apprentice and friend, Manolin, was forced by his parents to leave the old man in order to fish in a more prosperous boat. The boy continues to care for the old man upon his return every night. He always helps the old man for his need for food and clothes etc. On the eighty-fifth day, Santiago sailing his skiff far beyond the island’s shallow coastal  and entered into the Gulf Stream. At noon, Marlin took the bait, then began the famous scene of the old man fighting with marlin. During all the time Santiago endures the constant pain from the fishing line. For every attempt of freedom by fish, the cord cuts his body badly. At the last on the third day, Santiago killed the marlin fish and then tied  it to his boat and sets the boat for home. As Santiago sails, Marlin’s blood leaves a trail in the water and eventually attracts sharks.  Although Santiago fought with sharks bravely, sharks eventually ate the complete meat of Marlin and leaving only skeleton, head, and tail. Finally, Santiago arrives home before daybreak, stumbles back to his shack, and sleeps very deeply. The next morning, a crowd of amazed fishermen gathers around the big skeleton of the fish, on that day Santiago met with Manolin and promised to fish together again.

The protagonist faces challenges in his life that can be related to our own everyday lives. In this book, Santiago has to overcome his age, self-doubt, and what other people think , just like us, although we are not as old as Santiago, we also have to overcome self-doubt and other people’s thinking, and struggle to find our self-identity , the story of Santiago maybe an useful inspiration for our university students, who are still suffering from confusion, identity crisis and many other challenge. Santiago has been a fisherman his whole life and now that he is becomin g older and weaker, he’s afraid that his ability to fish will deteriorate. Fishing is Santiago’s purpose in life and once that’s gone, what’s there to live for? From the old man’s journey, there is much to learn from and consider in your own life.

The first life  lesson you can take away from this book is to never give up. Once you decide on a goal and how to achieve it, don’t let anything stop you. It never too late to start pursuing your own dream, after entering college, some of us may feel depressed of entering the major/university that we don’t like. But this book told us if you have set your heart on your dream, you can pursue it whether what college or major you entered.

The second lesson is we must be hopeful all the time, we shall not let defeat make us depressed. When Santiago failed his battle against sharks, when these sharks ate up most of the Marlin that Santiago dreamed of, he didn ’ t complain for his unluckiness, didn ’ t rage against his fate, he didn ’ t let depression and sadness to overcome him. In my eyes, Santiago just as strong as before and got to his “ friend ”  bed without any action showed that he was sad. Don ’ t be afraid of mistake and defeat is an important lesson that we have learnt for many years. However, Santiago ’ s story gives us a special example on how we should do when facing defeat, we shall I say “ special ” ? Because we always read stories about how people managed to success after an initial failure, but in The Old Man and The Sea, there ’ re no such plot like how Santiago managed to catch another Marlin. So ,  I think in some extent, this story maybe more meaningful for our university students. We should know that we accept defeat not because we are eager to success, but to make these defeats don ’ t block our future path.

All in all, the Old Man and The Sea is a great work which has both literacy and education meaning. For our English major students, this book provides us with a window to know about Western culture and literacy, improve our professional quality. For our university students, this book teaches us with many useful truth that can be applied to our daily life.

2022-12-04

分享

喜欢(0)