The Old Man and the Sea - 7

The old man in the book The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway caught the biggest fish of his life and it was a complete trophy fish. Nobody had ever seen a fish as big as that before. Prior to the old man catching the huge fish, the town mocked him and laughed at him. They questioned his ability as a fishermen and thought he was a crazy old man. When the old man caught the fish, however, he proved hem all wrong. After catching the big fish, the man had reason to gloat and be prideful in his catch and his fishing abilities, but he did not. He could have been proud of the fish that he caught, but he was not. That is not where the old man's glory came from.

Where did his glory come from, then? The old man's glory did not come from the fact that he caught the big fish but his glory came from the pride that it took him to catch the big fish and the determination that he had to have in order to bring the fish in. The man waited for three days for that fish to grow weak. The old man ached all over by the time the fish became weak. His hands had been sliced and gashed by the fishing line and he was weak from lack of water and food. The man's back was wrenched and hurting as well as his hand that had cramped up during the fight with the fish. That old man had much determination and had good reason to take glory in the pride and determination that it took for him to catch that fish.

Many men would take pride in the actual fish that they caught. They would come back from the sea and gloat about the fish that they had caught. Many men would showcase the fish take pride in it and find their glory and worth from that fish. Many men in our society today do that, just not with fish. Men showcase their thin wives, their fast cars, and their large houses. However, it is not much to have those things. As we learn from the old man, it is how you got those things that counts. What you should take glory in is the hard work that you put in to get that thing, that is what actually counts for something.

For the old man to realize that it is not about the fish, but about his determination, it took much character. It shows that this man is a man of character and he cares more about the important things than the things that look good that he can show off. This man you can tell is experienced. He no longer cares of what others think of him, as the young men do. This man is not living to gain glory from other men, and that is something that is very respectable.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1996. Print.