The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway Essay Example for Free

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway Essay The Old Man and the Sea is a story, in my view, about man vs. the elements, individuality, and one mans obsession to dominate his world. For Ernest Hemingway far more than for most men, the specter of age was a terrible specter indeed, and the virtue of action upon which he had based his art in his life was the virtue of the young. This, I believe, pervaded the legendary figure of Ernest Hemingway as the youthful, virile adventurer, tempered with humility. Hemingway has been notably preoccupied with individualism as well as self-endurance and, in my view, no where is this more exemplified than in his novel The Old Man and the Sea. The Old Man and the Sea is basically a story about an old man who sets out in a small boat on what presumes to be a routine fishing expedition. Unexpectedly, he connected with a very large fish which precipitated a struggle which appeared interminable. The fish was a marlin, and the struggle resulted in the death and capture of this enormous fish. At that point, he secured the marlin and headed home. Unfortunately, along the way, he was besieged by sharks which he was unable to fight off. The time span in the novel The Old Man and the Sea is relatively short. The old mans name is Santiago, and he spends all of eighty-four days without catching a fish. After his first nibble from this great marlin, he struggles greatly to hang on to this fish even though every muscle in his body causes him the greatest pain à ¾ and the second night he nibbles on a small fish and sleeps for the first time, whereupon a furious jerk of the line awakens him. Its during the third day that the great marlin begins to circle the boat and, in almost no time, the sharks (beginning with a mako) begin to move in on Santiagos catch. Even after Santiago brings in the bare remains of the flesh-stripped marlin, it creates a big stir among the village fisherman, and tourists observe with detached amusement the skeletal remains of Santiagos three-day battle. They do not understand the nature or significance of Santiagos experiences. Hemingway refers to the fishing rod being part of a life-death cycle. While the rod is alone without a fish on the other end, it is dead. However, when there is a fish on the end of the line, the rod becomes a living rod. This life ends, however, when the fish is removed from the line. The struggle for life is aptly presented in this story by Hemingway through describing the struggle of a fish and a man in which the fish struggles to free himself, while the man struggles to maintain him. It is a huge fish and he puts up a great fight. Two Hearted River: Part II à ¾ Summary and Analysis. Another story regarding life and death and the struggle for life was Ernest Hemingways short story Two Hearted River: Part II. he warmth and life-giving quality of the sun is mentioned early in the story. In the morning, it is as if the grasshoppers are lifeless. It takes the warmth and life-giving quality of the sun to spring these creatures to life. One grasshopper slowly works its way out of the b ottle Nick was holding. It seemed that temporarily this grasshopper had found life. However, as it jumped into the stream, its life was over as a trout ate the small animal and killed it. Another grasshopper was taken from the bottle. It was alive and squirming in Nicks hand. Nick then took a hook and thrust it into the thorax and the abdomen of the creature, killing it. Thus, life occurs one moment and death takes over the next. Another struggle is identified by Hemingway in this story. A living trout is hooked by Nick once more. The trout puts up a desperate struggle to free himself from the hook in his mouth. However, the struggle is lost and Nick hauls in the fish. Although he is allowed to live temporarily in a small sack that is filled with water, the fate of this fish is obvious. Nick holds the fish and whacks him against a log. The life in the fish ceases. The wriggling of the body stops as he turns rigid and lifeless. The death of a tree is also mentioned in this story. A huge, living elm had been uprooted by the force of the river, and it was not dead and lifeless. The aforementioned, Two Hearted River: Part II, is a minor work by E. Hemingway. At the same time, I chose this particular story because I felt it had particular significance for the primary subject of this research paper. Published Criticism At this point, I should like to proffer some criticism of Ernest Hemingway à ¾ and at the same time attempt to relate this to the primary topic of choice, i.e. The Old Man and the Sea. Whether Hemingway every achieved an ultimate solution to the dilemma of his approach to age, virtue and boyishness is not for us to judge, although the circumstances of his death indicated that he could not and would not abide a final weakening of those powers which were so important to the protagonists of his stories. In the last decade or so of his life, however, Hemingway did find a way to cope with the fact of his own age. He would dramatize what he could not avoid. Because of his absolute youthfulness, he regards old age as an utter and complete tragedy, as it is of course the only true tragedy, and he is not going to degrade himself by maturing or anything absurd of that sort. All the same, since he has a sense of costume, he will emphasize his decline in all its hopelessness by sprouting a white beard and generally acting the part of Senex. To a large extent, I believe that this critique has to do with the old man who has to give up on catching this fish. Similarly, in my mind , there is strong metaphysical evidence in terms of the old man and his refusal to give up on a struggle which he personally acknowledges is particularly difficult due to his old age à ¾ but yet he refuses to capitulate to this inevitability. Why is it that Ernest Hemingway pursues such thematic material with such drive and vigor? I believe that the answer may be found within the man himself. It has been acknowledged by critics à ¾ almost unanimously à ¾ that much of his thematic material reflects the man himself as, in my view, do his novels and short stories, as already indicated. To this extent, I should like to offer some biography on Ernest Hemingway which may serve to illuminate this belief. Hemingway was the second of six children of Clarence and Grace Hemingway. Upon graduation from Oak Park High School in 1917, he chose journalism instead of college, and spent seven educational months as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star. Hemingway secured a part-time job as a feature writer for the Toronto Star and, in the fall of 1920, he became contributing editor of a trade journal in Chicago wherein he met one, Hadley Richardson, whom he married in September of 1921. Together they sailed for France and, for nineteen months occupied a walk-up flat in the Latin quarter of Paris. Hemingways serious writings began tentatively with the Paris publication in 1923-24 of two slender books of pros and poetry, yet his name was still little known in the U.S. Subsequently, he divorced Hadley and moved to Key West, Florida in 1928. He remained there for twelve years and completed A Farewell to Arms. There is much to be said about this man, and his experiences in Spain represented an entire chapter unto themselves. In Cuba in 1945, Hemingway began a romantic novel of reminiscences, including The Garden of Eden which, to date, to my knowledge, remains unpublished. Considering Hemingways passion for the sea à ¾ where he spent much of his life à ¾ and fishing, the thematic content of The Old Man and the Sea, to me, underscores the thematic content of individualism, struggle against the elements, and the refusal to bend to the challenges of time and old age.

The Meaning of Heritage in Alice Walkers Everyday Use Essay -- Everyd

The Meaning of Heritage in Alice Walker's Everyday Use  Ã‚      Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," is a story about a poor, African-American family and a conflict about the word "heritage." In this short story, the word "heritage" has two meanings. One meaning for the word "heritage" represents family items, thoughts, and traditions passed down through the years. The other meaning for the word "heritage" represents the African-American culture. There are three women in this short story, two sisters and their mother. One of the sisters is named Maggie and the other is named Dee. Maggie and her mother believe that the word "heritage" deals with their family?s traditions. These traditions are the only ones they have ever known and/or cared about. Dee, on the other hand, believes that "heritage" is about African culture, and she wants nothing to do with her family?s heritage until it is in style. Throughout "Everyday Use," there are examples that show Maggie and her mother have knowledge about their family?s heritage. There are also examples that show Maggie and her mother cherish their family?s heritage and Dee does not. Next, there are examples that show Dee is not concerned with her family?s heritage until it becomes stylish. Finally, there are examples that show Dee embracing her African-American heritage instead of her family?s heritage. The narrator of "Everyday Use" is the mother, and the story opens with Maggie and her mother waiting for Dee to arrive. The mother?s description of her family?s yard, "a yard like this is more comfortable than most people know" (Walker 1149), shows that she is happy and content with her current surroundings. This land is a part of their family?s heritage, and the mother is comfortable l... ...ly?s heritage. So ironically, while Dee is looking for her African-American culture, and it lies right in front of her eyes. Her sister, mother, grandmother, and herself are all a part of their family?s heritage, which stems from the African-American heritage that Dee is so desperate to find. Works Cited Allen-Polley, Kathryn. "Dee?s Heritage." Ode to Friendship. Ed. Connie Bellamy. Virginia Wesleyan College, 1998. Baker and Pierce-Baker, Houston and Charlotte. "Patches: Quilts and Community in Alice Walker?s ?Everyday Use.?" Alice Walker: Critical Perspectives Past and Present. Eds. Henry Louis Gates and K. A. Appiah. New York: Amistad , 1993. Callahan, John. "Review of Love and Trouble." Short Story Criticism Vol. 5. (Essay date 1974). Walker, Alice. "Everyday Use." Harper Anthology of Fiction. Ed. Sylvan Barnet. New York: Harper Collins, 1991.

Automobile and Tucker Essay

The movie, Tucker: The Man and His Dream, is the story of a man named Preston Tucker and takes place in the 1940’s. Preston Tucker’s dream was to design and build the greatest automobile ever made. At first, he began by bringing home drawings of his dream car, which was to be called the Tucker Torpedo. He showed the drawings to a man who would eventually become his partner, Abe. Initially, Abe doesn’t like the idea of building a car, but he didn’t know anything about cars. Tucker placed an advertisement in a magazine about his car, and the public became excited. The car would have an engine in the rear, a middle headlight that turned with the car, and a windshield that would pop out when the car was in a wreck. In the meantime, Robert Bennington, who was the CEO of Ford, became worried that the Tucker Torpedo may put Ford out of business, so Bennington made a deal with him to allow him to buy a plant to build the car in. This also gave Ford a reason to be involved in building the car. The deal stated that Tucker must make at least fifty cars in one year in order to keep the plant, and the first car needed to be presented to the public within sixty days. Abe invested $6,000 to help Tucker build the first car. On the day of the presentation, the car was built but had no engine. Therefore, they had some problems getting it on stage, but once it was on stage, the thousands of people who attended the presentation cheered. After that, Bennington announced to Tucker that he wanted to change the car. He didn’t want the engine in the rear of the car, and since the ? Big 3†², the three largest automobile makers in the US, were buying all of the steel, there was not enough for Tucker to buy to build his cars. Tucker protested the ? Big 3†². A man named Howard Hughes, who owned a steel company, told Tucker about a helicopter company who needed to sell steel. So Tucker bought a helicopter engine and converted it to a car engine, and the car worked. After Tucker protested the ? Big 3†², he was spied on by people who worked for the ? Big 3†² companies. They accused him of not running his business properly, but it was not true. Abe got scared because he had already served three years in prison for bank fraud and did not want to get caught up in another mess, so he resigned. Then, there were commercials out that told the public that Tucker’s car was built piece by piece from a junkyard. Eventually, the government started a full investigation on Tucker and charged him with fraud. Tucker lost most of his investors from this, and had already spent too much money trying to build the car. He did make all the cars, but he did not make the fifty car minimum in time and lost his plant. He was found not guilty of fraud, but after all the bad publicity, people no longer wanted the cars, and Tucker had lost a lot of money, so no more cars were ever made. Today, some of Tucker’s Torpedo’s are still around; some are in museums, and some of them even still run. After watching the movie, I researched the Tucker Tornado on the Internet. One source, The History of the Tucker 48, at www. gizmohighway. com, says that the car actually had additional features not mentioned in the movie. In addition to the turning headlight, rear engine and the windshield that would pop out, the Tucker Torpedo also had more room inside the car and padded steering wheels and dashboards. Another source, 1946 Tucker Torpedo, at www.cybersteering. com, also says that Tucker applied for a $30 million loan before he was accused of fraud and that in 1956, Tucker died of lung cancer in Brazil while trying to build another car, the Carioca. I also found in the open letter from Preston Tucker, at www. tuckerclub. org, that this is a letter that Preston Tucker wrote to protest the other automobile companies and the investigations that eventually killed his company. In it he says that he actually had 1,872 Tucker dealers and almost 50,000 investors that put $25 million into his company. The definition of an entrepreneurship is a person who organizes and manages a business, assuming the risk for the sake of a profit. Preston Tucker started a company and wanted to build a car for Americans knowing that it would take a lot of money that he did not have. He organized and managed the business and assumed the risk of losing a lot of money for a lot of people. I think that Tucker was not treated fairly by his competition. New entrepreneurs like Preston Tucker should be given the same fair chance to build a business just like the others had to build theirs.

The Frailty of Women Myth - 971 Words

The topic I chose to write my essay on was â€Å"The Frailty Myth,† which is the belief that women are naturally weak and frail. Throughout my essay, I will emphasize Sociological Imagination by showing the connections between personal lives and the social world currently and back in the day. Sociological Imagination consists of 4 sensibilities; historical, cultural, structural and critical. Historical sensibility involves the analyzation of how our society got to be the way that it is. For example, women’s sports in 1865 up until now. Cultural sensibility is the ability to understand human belief’s, behaviors and activities in context of their own cultures. Structural sensibility is the organization of a society that explains a certain phenomenon. Critical sensibility is skeptical thinking that requires â€Å"digging deep† to find the answers by asking your self two important questions, how do we know? and how could it be otherwise? My main focus will be exercising my historical sensibility in order to better understand â€Å"The Frailty Myth.† â€Å"The Frailty Myth† is an issue that has haunted women in sports from 1865 until now. Although women have the capability to play any sport desirable, they are subject to limits and are still seen as â€Å"weak† individuals. For example, there are multiple differences between men’s and women’s basketball that is a true representation of â€Å"The Frailty Myth† today. The first difference is the size and weight of the ball. According to the author, Mona Huang,Show MoreRelatedSynopsis Of A Book Meridian By Alice Walker Essay1519 Words   |  7 Pagescharacter is tough to pin down. Who she is will not be clear to the audience. This perhaps presages that Meridian’s moral authority and power will not be easily defined or pinned down either and it is useless to try to assign a secondary meaning (â€Å"myth†) to her because it will always shift. Though it is human nature to assign meaning to everything, Walker attempts to extirpate this by disconcerting the reader in his or her view of Meridian and by forcing him or her to continuously reassign meaningRead MoreThe Letters of Abelard and Heloise1200 Words   |  5 Pageswhy things turn out the way they do throughout this autobiography. In their society women were not as superior as men; society considers women less important than men. Abelard argues, however, that Heloise is in fact his superior since she is married to God (138). Society expects a wife to intercede between God and her husband, even though it considers her secondary to her spouse (121). Heloise understands that women are not superior to men and are only alive to serve their husband and supports itRead MoreWomen in Sports Essay example938 Words   |  4 PagesWomen in Sports Historical evidence proves that women have been involved in sports since fourth century BC; but were not necessarily given the approval to participate. Many restrictions were enforced to keep women out of these male activities and were continually reinforced until the twentieth century. Women entering the world of sports were aware that they were placing themselves into a male dominated field. With their entrance into the sporting world, theseRead MoreSelf Realization Of Women : Novels Of Githa Hariharan1181 Words   |  5 PagesSelf-realization of women in novels of Githa Hariharan. Abstract- The Indian English Literature focuses on its own culture heritage, modernization of values and systems, Indian consciousness and sensibility. In the decade of sixties Indian novel in English acquired a private tone and exploration of inner life received focus at the hands of a number of Indian women novelists led by Anita Desai. In fact, the heroines of Anita Desai’s novels are hypersensitive and introverts, caught up in the vortexRead MorePaper 11717 Words   |  7 Pagestouch them. And also, you may take photos, but please no flash! Now follow me into the Clive gallery so we can get started! The Clive gallery is divided into 4 sections: Religion Redefined, Gesture and Pose, A Sense of Place, and History and Myth. We decided to call this collection Conversations. I want to encourage you to think of what these four sections what they mean. We can do this by comparing and contrasting between works within each section and outside of each section. In eachRead MoreOthello Notes2305 Words   |  10 Pagespicturesque phrase or image, a serenity (calmness) of thought, which can be clearly distinguished from other Shakespearean plays. Feminist Interpretation: â€Å"In the Elizabethan and Jacobean culture the link between blackness and the devil, the myth of black sexuality, the problem of black subjection to authority, go against the obedience owed to the father and the God†-George Best-Discourse 1578 â€Å"Look at her, Moor, have a quick eye to see: She has deceived her father, may do thee† FathersRead MoreThe Birthmark By Nathaniel Hawthorne1426 Words   |  6 Pagesvalues and societal structure of the time period during which it was written. For example, in the time of ancient Greece, a matriarchy was prominent, demonstrated by their myths and stories that worshipped female gods or mother-like creators. Later, in the early 1800’s, a patriarchy was strongly evident in American literature. Women were portrayed as weak and appearance-centered beings who had no value, while men were presented as strong heroes who had limitless knowledge, power, and ability. NathanielRead MoreAnalysis of a Short Story a Worn Path by Eudora Welty1163 Words   |  5 Pagesis indicated by the way she moves — slowly, in small steps, with the assistance of a cane — and by the wrinkles on her face, which form â€Å"a pattern all its own . . . as though a whole little tree st ood in the middle of her forehead.† Because of her frailty, her determination to continue on her journey highlights her resilience and perseverance. Old Phoenix sees the Natchez Trace as an obstacle course, one that she tolerates with a fair sense of humor.. She tells the animals to stay out of her way. HerRead MoreThe Role Of The Working Women1620 Words   |  7 Pagesemployment were once held as an allegation only for men. While men were working, women were sought out to be innocent and compassionate housewives; only caring for their homes and families rather than labouring. Throughout history the role of the working women has progressed drastically, however, the dainty and caring presentation of a woman still remains to be a flaw. This flaw has built the fundamental depiction of women in films and television, especially within the workforce such as espionage. Read More`` So Rudely Forced : The Breakdown Of Traditional Masculinity Essay2048 Words   |  9 PagesEliotâ €™s suggestion that traditional masculinity breaks down and decays in the waste land. Traditional masculinity is further challenged through Eliot’s criticism of hyper-masculinity and heterosexual relations in the modern era through allusions to the myth of Philomela and the â€Å"young man carbuncular† scene in â€Å"The Fire Sermon.† Along with this, Eliot stages scenes charged with homoeroticism to further challenge ideas of traditional masculinity. Homoerotic scenes such as the â€Å"hyacinth girl† scene in â€Å"The