Wednesday, August 18, 2010

The Old Man and the Sea: The Perspective of the Other Fishermen

Now it is time to think about the point of view of the other local fishermen in the local fishing village and at the terrace café. At first, I thought they were all jerks with no sympathy especially toward poor old Santiago. I mean, they pretty much ridiculed him all day for being such a bad fisherman because of his “bad luck.” Although I think all their heckling about Santiago’s “bad luck” is a bunch of bologna, I can see where they are coming from. In this entry, I will put myself in their shoes for a while. Honestly, if I were one of them, I would most likely do the same thing. If I am a stud fisherman who is doing well and has a good life like most of them do, and I see a washed up old man like Santiago, then I would probably not think much of him. Even though it is not very nice, that is kind of just the facts of life. On the other hand, I might feel sorry for Santiago such as Manolin does. I might help him out whenever I get the chance and do some chores for him around his shack. I know he would teach me some valuable lessons not only about fishing but about life as well. He would be the brains, and I would be the brawn of the whole fishing operation. I wish the other fishermen in the village were like that, but they have to go and be bullies to the genius that is Santiago. Well I cannot really do anything about it because they are obviously in the fictional world which makes me feel a little better. Hemingway really did a good job capturing the mindsets of what people really think in this novel. I can see now how the other fishermen in the village think once I really thought about their perspective which is a helpful comprehension exercise.

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