Losses > Gains

In my last post I answered the question about conflicts and gains and losses in them. Throughout this book I started to realize that in Old Man and the Sea there isn't a lot of positive happenings. Most of what goes on in the book is different failures, unfortunate events, or negative out comings. I noticed that Santiago doesn't really have anything good go on in his life until the day he caught the marlin. I also noticed that once something good does come along and happen in Santiago's life, something bad immediately follows. I was able to use this at a great example and proof of how good my life is and how much worse life could be. It makes me grateful for everything I have good or bad. I thought it was amazing how Santiago could praise God even when the outcome didn't look good and he still tried to be positive about everything. I thought it was really cool how he never gave up and persevered through the hardest times knowing or assuming that something good was bound to come along. That good thing that happened after he had gone days without water and his fish had been mauled, was making it back to shore alive and in one piece. It was also lucky of him to be able to have the skeleton of the huge fish he caught as evidence that he wasn't crazy and did catch it. That's a great way of staying positive and finding the good out of the bad. It amazed me how simple his life really was and how many things didn't bother him.

I feel the author did a great job getting many different points across in not a lot of pages. I think that's one reason its so popular. Many kids don't like to read books that are very long and get excited when they find a small book that they have to read. When they get excited like that something they have to read turns into something they want to read.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.