So what was the meaning of this story? What does the fish represent?
Is the Old Man spearing God?
>>7769996
Terrible picture. The fish was barely alive when it finally got near enough to the boat to harpoon.
Anyway, the fish is just something huge and dangerous that the man feels a need to conquer in order to restore his masculine self-image as a successful fisherman. This need for such a self-image is so strong that he risks his life for it even after it becomes apparent that he will not profit financially from his risks.
>>7770035
In other words he's stupid as hell.
>>7770038
Woman or nu-male detected
He's an old blue-collar man with little else to live for, and also a fictional character in a story chock-full of symbolism.
>>7770038
He is Jesus Christ.
>>7770045
>He's an old blue-collar man
So is my grandpa. If you asked him if it's stupid to risk your life to catch a fish just for muh manhood I'm pretty sure he'd say yes.
the fish represents sushi
>>7770053
I'm glad that your grandfather has rejected the only chance he has of experiencing aristocratic values. We should all be happy for his contentment with prole mediocrity.
>>7770062
>I'm glad that your grandfather has rejected the only chance he has of experiencing aristocratic values
Given he's views on posh shits like you he probably is too.
>>7770067
*his GODDAMMIT
old man works to accomplish something. wants to end his stroke of bad luck. wants to restore his former glory in his own eyes, in the eyes of society. do something great. he does and society (sharks) denies him. they pick away at his accomplishment until only the bones are left. they profit from his work and effort. no proof to anyone but himself, but that's ok.
basically that's pretty close to hemingway's literary career by that point wouldn't you say? but people ate the old man and the sea up instead of picking it apart.
>>7770067
>resenting people with money so much that you reject heroic hedonism just to be less like them
Jesus
Maybe one day you'll meet someone with a little potency in his life to show you the way.
>>7770035
it's more ... complicated than just muh manhood guy
>>7770077
An interesting detail to this end is that the woman at the end thought the carcass was of a shark.
also great digits
>>7770092
And her husband, right?
itt people projecting societal memes on to a classic existential tale.
The fish is meaning. The struggle is Sisyphus struggle. the loss of the fish is inevitable death.
even though it was doomed in the final, the struggle for meaning was worth it, because that's the point of life.
>/lit/ literally needs people to hold their hands through the old man and the sea now
/reddit/ invasion is real
>>7770053
See the problem here is that your grandpa probably kind of enjoys his life. The old man's life at that point was basically him watching himself die slowly, and every now and then he'd hang out with this kid he likes, who's parents made him stop hanging out with. Risking your life to look like a badass when it's boring and shitty isn't that big of a deal.
>>7770119
It's Hemmingway, making the substance vague was more important to him than the substance itself.
>>7770149
I think this leads to stronger emotion at the point of comprehension.
I like it.
I wasn't exactly sure what message to take away from it all. I just like the tenacity of the old man, even though he failed. He just wanted to prove himself but failed. Good thing his little boy toy will always love him.
>>7769996
The old man casts deeper lines, looks for bigger things, he loves the sea. He does more with less because he loves the sea: even though it covers him with little cancers, they're benevolent; even though he doesn't have enough tools, he makes more of out what he has. To me, he was more a partner with the sea like the fish in it, ate the swordfish raw just like the dentados; he was in the depths, not on the surface like the fishermen who called it "el mar". And he acts in the sea just like on land, where he barely has anything, constructing his bed out of old newspapers. The sea wasn't a means for him. And I think he missed his wife.
The fish was a fish.
>>7771235
What do you think of that quote, anon?
>>7771272
That those two anons are making a point. It's a simple story, but a lot cab be gleaned from a simple story. I don't think Hemingway had any symbolism or allegories in mind while writing the book. He wrote a true story, take from it what you can.
>>7771272
I think Ernie was wrong. THE GOLDEN BOWL seems to me like the kind of symbol that strikes one like lightning one day, and Henry James ably weaved a psychologically complex narrative around that central symbol.
>>7771272
That anyone saying there's a simple, single, and very obvious meaning to The Old Man And The Sea is full of shit.
>>7771300
Like it's raw material?
>>7771297
There are very few constants of technique in literature, and both approaches are probably correct. Balance is important, you can't drown or dry the thing out.
>>7771288
I agree with that. If you write the truth, the symbolism will be there because symbolism is representative of ideas/causes stemming from character and environment interacting.
>>7770092
Help me, I'm stupid, what does that mean? (Metaphorically, ofc)
>>7770110
this. Anyone who thinks the novel is about >muh manhood shouldn't be on this board.
>There isn't any symbolism. The sea is the sea. The old man is an old man. The boy is a boy and the fish is a fish. The shark are all sharks no better and no worse. All the symbolism that people say is shit. What goes beyond is what you see beyond when you know.”
