The history of the creation of the story - parable “The Old Man and the Sea. The history of the creation of the story - parable “The Old Man and the Sea The Old Man and the Sea what genre

Ernest Hemingway wrote The Old Man and the Sea in 1951 in Cuba. In 1952, the book was published under the English title The old Man and the Sea.

This short story became not only the most famous, but also the last work of Hemingway published during his lifetime. For The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1954.

“Read what I write and look for nothing but your own pleasure. And if you find something else, that will be your contribution to what you read. There has never been a good book that would arise from a pre-invented symbol baked into a book, like raisins into a sweet bun... I tried to give a real old man and a real boy, a real sea and real fish, and real sharks. And, if I managed to do this well enough and truthfully, they, of course, can be interpreted in different ways."
E. Hemingway

Information about the book “The Old Man and the Sea”

Date of writing: 1952
Year of publication: 2008
Title: The Old Man and the Sea
Author: Ernest Miller Hemingway
ISBN: 5-17-052511-7
Translator: E. Golysheva and B. Izakova
Copyright holder: IZD-VO "AST"

The history of the creation of the work “The Old Man and the Sea”

The story of an old Cuban fisherman and a boy whose boat sailed on the ocean, pulled by a huge fish, was first published in 1936 in Esquire magazine. In his documentary essay “On Blue Water. Gulf Stream Letter" Ernest Hemingway shared with readers the real story of a Cuban who caught the biggest fish of his life and was unable to bring it to the Havana shores because of sharks. Modern literary scholars believe that the prototype of the main character was the writer’s friend, the Cuban fisherman Gregory Fuentos. Some researchers believe that the artistic image of the old man was created from many fishermen who inhabited the Havana village of Kohimare.

The writer “spied” the main image of a fishing boat drifting in the ocean during one of his sea voyages. According to eyewitnesses, Hemingway was extremely interested in a small boat moving after a huge fish. The writer asked his captain to come closer to the boat and came across a terrible curse and an old man sitting in it. There was also a boy with the old fisherman... In order not to interfere with the fishing, Hemingway moved a considerable distance away from the boat, but all day long he watched the fascinating process from afar.

Hemingway was a fisherman himself. By the age of eight, he knew the names of all the plants and animals that surrounded him in the Midwest, but he had a special passion for aquatic creatures. It is no coincidence that Hemingway caught the largest flying fish in the Atlantic. Having conceived the work of his whole life, the writer again turned to the topic that was most familiar and interesting to him. The story was completed in October 1951 and published in September 1952 in Life magazine. And Hemingway brought food to that old man fishing in the ocean at sunset, but was met with the same scolding from a man engaged in hard male labor.

Quotes from Hemingway's story "The Old Man and the Sea"

We are all, truly, created for our own affairs, he thought. Your talent is expressed in how you earn your bread.

Isn't it strange that, not loving her, replacing love with lies, he could not give her more for her money than other women whom he really loved.

There is no point in thinking about what is sinful and what is not sinful. Now it’s too late to think about it, and besides, let those who are paid for it deal with sins. Let them think about what sin is.

-...Why do old people wake up so early? Is it really in order to at least extend this day?
- Don't know. I only know that young people sleep long and soundly.

— In September there are big fish. Everyone knows how to fish in May.

- Fish,” he said, “I love and respect you very much.” But I will kill you before the evening comes.

“It’s impossible for a person to be left alone in old age,” he thought. - However, this is inevitable. I must remember to eat the tuna before it goes rotten, because I must not lose strength. I wouldn’t forget to eat it in the morning, even if I’m not hungry at all. Just don’t forget,” he repeated to himself.

I wonder why she suddenly surfaced,” the old man thought. “You’d think she came up just to show me how huge she is.” Well, now I know. It's a pity that I can't show her what kind of person I am. Suppose she would then see my cramped hand. Let her think better of me than I really am, and then I will really be better. I wish I were a fish and that I had everything she has, not just will and intelligence.

You didn’t kill the fish just to sell it to others and support your life, he thought. - You killed her out of pride and because you are a fisherman. You loved this fish while it lived, and you love it now. If you love someone, it is not a sin to kill him. Or maybe, on the contrary, it is even more sinful?

Preface to “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway

The story “The Old Man and the Sea” is about the meaning of life. Literary scholars call this work a philosophical parable. Why?

A parable is an allegorical story with a moralizing conclusion. The ideal and wisdom are always contained in the parable.

What is the meaning of life?

This is what a person lives for, what he believes in, what he strives for. I would like to remember the words of A.P. Chekhov. It was this writer that Hemingway admired and diligently learned from him brevity and pithyness, the mastery of subtext. Chekhov has a story “On the Way”, one of the characters of which says: “If a Russian person does not believe in God, then this means that he believes in something else.”

In the drama “Three Sisters,” one of the sisters, Masha, reflects: “It seems to me that a person should be a believer or seek faith, otherwise his life is empty, empty.”

Faith is necessary for a person. But what should he believe? The answer is Hemingway’s solution is contained in the story “The Old Man and the Sea.”

The work has everything that the modern world, and especially young people, lack. It is no coincidence that in a television interview after receiving the Nobel Prize, Hemingway called his work “a message to the younger generation.”

The first three associations when we hear the name Hemingway: wine, gun, “man's prose.” The last definition is very important, because now “boyish prose” is in use, and Ernest Hemingway is a “male” author. A man always remains a man, even in old age. The work of the American classic “The Old Man and the Sea” tells us about this. His analysis hurries with all possible speed to appear before the bright eyes of the reader of this article.

Plot

The story is about old man Santiago and his fight with a huge fish.

Small village in Cuba. The elderly fisherman was no longer lucky; for almost three months he had not known the sweet feeling of satisfaction from the caught catch. The boy Manolin went halfway through disappointment with him. Then the parents informed the younger partner that Santiago was no longer friendly with fortune and their son would be better off looking for another company for going to sea. Besides, you have to feed your family. The boy yielded to the wishes of his parents, although he himself did not want to leave the old fisherman, he really liked him.

And then the day came on which, as the old man felt, everything was about to change. And indeed, that’s what happened: Santiago managed to hook a huge fish. The man and the fish fought for several days, and when the prey was defeated, the old man dragged it home, tying it to the boat. But while they were fighting, the boat was carried far out to sea.

On the way home, the old man was already mentally counting the profits from selling fish, when he suddenly noticed shark fins on the surface of the water.

He repelled the attack of the first shark, but when the sea animals attacked in a flock, the fisherman could no longer cope. The predators left the boat alone only after they had almost completely eaten the fisherman’s “reward” (all that was left of the fish caught by the elderly man was a trophy - a huge skeleton).

The old man did not bring his catch to his village, but he proved his worth as a fisherman. Santiago, of course, was upset and even cried. The first to meet him on the shore was his faithful companion, Manolin, who was torn away from the old man only by parental orders and the need to get food for his family. He consoled the old man and said that he would never leave him again and would learn a lot from him and together they would catch many more fish.

We hope that the reader did not find the retelling offered here incomplete, and if he suddenly asks: “Why is the content of the work (“The Old Man and the Sea”) short?” “Analysis also requires space, dear reader,” we will answer him.

For such a not too complicated story, Ernest Hemingway received in 1953 and in 1954 the Nobel Prize in Literature, which recognized the entire work of the writer.

Let the reader not be angry for the long prelude to the study, but without the plot of the story called “The Old Man and the Sea,” it is difficult to carry out an analysis, because it must be based on facts presented at least concisely.

Why is the story called “The Old Man and the Sea”?

Hemingway is a wonderful writer. He was able to write a story in such a way that it delighted specialists and more than one generation of readers, and in the work the writer raised the eternal theme of man and the elements. “The Old Man and the Sea” (the analysis carried out in this article confirms this conclusion) is a story, first of all, about the struggle of a decrepit, old man and an eternally young, strong and powerful element. In the story, not only the fish is important, but also nature in general. It is with this that a person fights and does not lose in this battle.

Why was the old man chosen as the main character?

The study of the book “The Old Man and the Sea” (its analysis) suggests an answer to this, in general, obvious question.

If the fisherman were young, the story would not be so dramatic, it would be an action movie, like, for example, “To Have and Have Not” by the same author. In the winning work, Hemingway managed to squeeze out of the reader a stingy male tear (or uncontrollable and loud female sobs) about the sad fate of the old sea wolf.

Hemingway's special techniques that immerse the reader in the atmosphere of the story

There is no exciting development of events in the book of the American classic. The work has almost no dynamics, but it is full of internal drama. Some may think that Hemingway's storytelling is boring, but this is not the case at all. If the writer had not paid so much attention to detail and had not described the old man’s suffering at sea in such detail, the reader would not have been able to fully feel the sailor’s suffering in his own gut. In other words, if there had not been this “viscosity and stickiness” of the text, then “The Old Man and the Sea” (analysis of the work proves this) would not have been such a heartfelt composition.

Old man Santiago and boy Manolin - a story of friendship between two generations

In addition to the main theme in the book written by Ernest Hemingway, there are additional reasons for thought. One of them is the friendship between an old man and a boy. How touchingly Manolin worries about Santiago, how he encourages him during failures. There is an opinion that old people and children get along so well because some have recently emerged from oblivion, while others will soon get there. This common Motherland, from where some come and others are about to leave, brings them closer together on an unconscious and intuitive level.

If we talk specifically about the two heroes, it seems that the boy simply feels that the old man is a master of his craft, a seasoned sailor. Manolin probably believes that he actually has a lot to learn from him, and while he is alive, this opportunity should not be missed.

All that remains for us in the story “The Old Man and the Sea” (the analysis of the work is almost completed) is to consider only the issue of discrimination. He was hardly concerned with Ernest Hemingway when he wrote a masterpiece that is very topical at the present time, but the story provides food for thought in this direction.

Discrimination and “Old Man...”

At all times, it has been customary to treat children, the elderly and the disabled with condescension: some can do little else, others are no longer suitable for something serious, and still others are placed outside the usual framework by nature itself.

But Ernest Hemingway didn’t think so at all. “The Old Man and the Sea” (the analysis given in the article confirms this) says that all people written off by society still have hope for salvation and accomplishment. And children and old people can even unite into an excellent team that can outshine many.

The experience and old age of the fisherman in the story of the American classic are presented as advantages. Indeed, imagine if the fisherman were young and full of strength, he most likely would not be able to withstand the fight with the fish and would fall unconscious. Young - yes, old - no, never!

Ernest Hemingway himself thought a lot about the heroic figure of the fisherman. “The Old Man and the Sea” (analysis confirms this) is a monument to human courage.

"Man can be destroyed, but cannot be defeated"

For an old man, this is not just a job. For him, fighting at sea is a way to prove to himself and society that he is still in the zone, and therefore has no right to “pass out” due to hunger and thirst, the sun and even numbness of the limbs, much less die.

Yes, the sailor did not deliver his fish this time, but he still accomplished the feat. And we firmly believe that some other old man (not necessarily a conqueror of the sea) will certainly have the opportunity to get even with fate like his brother and create something outstanding.

Illustration by Henry Seabright

Old man Santiago lives in a small fishing village in Cuba and fishes all alone. The last time he spent 84 days at sea, he did not catch anything. Previously, the boy Manolin was fishing with him, who helped the old man a lot, but the boy’s parents decided that Santiago was unlucky and told their son to go to sea on another boat.

The old man taught Manolin to fish, and the boy loves Santiago and wants to help him. He buys him sardines for bait and brings food to his hut. The old man had long since come to terms with his poverty.

He was too simple-minded to think about when humility came to him. But he knew that humility came without bringing with it either shame or loss of human dignity.

They talk with the boy about fishing and famous baseball players. At night, the old man dreams of the Africa of his youth, and “lions coming ashore.”

The next day, early in the morning, the old man goes fishing. The boy helps him take down the sail and prepare the boat. The old man says that this time he “believes in luck.”

One after another, fishing boats leave the shore and go out to sea. The old man loves the sea, he thinks of it with tenderness, as of a woman. Having baited the hooks, Santiago slowly floats with the flow, mentally communicating with the birds and fish. Accustomed to loneliness, the old man talks aloud to himself.

Before, when he was left alone, he sang; He sometimes sang at night, while on watch, when he was sailing on large sailboats or hunting for turtles.

The old man knows the different inhabitants of the ocean and treats them very tenderly.

First, Santiago catches a small tuna. He hopes that there is a big fish walking near the school of tuna that will like his sardines. Soon the old man notices a slight trembling of the flexible green rod, which replaces his fishing rod. The line goes down, and the old man feels the enormous weight of the fish that has bitten.

The old man tries to pull up the thick fishing line, but he fails - a large and strong fish pulls the light boat behind it. The old man regrets that the boy is not with him - he could remove the bait from other rods while Santiago fights with the fish.

About four hours pass. Evening is approaching. The old man’s hands are cut, he throws the fishing line over his back and places a bag under it. Now Santiago can lean against the side of the boat and rest for a while.

It is impossible for a person to remain alone in old age... However, this is inevitable.

Night. The fish pulls the boat further and further from the shore. The old man is tired, but the thought of fish does not leave him for a second. Sometimes he feels sorry for her - the fish, so big, strong and old, must die so that he can live on. Santiago talks to the fish: “I will not part with you until I die.”

The old man's strength is running out, but the fish is not going to get tired. At dawn, Santiago eats tuna - he has no other food. The old man's left hand is cramping. The old man hopes that the fish will float up, and then he can kill it with a harpoon. Finally the forest goes up, and a fish appears on the surface. She burns in the sun, her head and back are dark purple, and instead of a nose there is a sword as long as a baseball bat. It is two feet longer than the boat.

Alone, on the open sea, he was tightly tied to such a large fish, which he had never seen, which he had never even heard of.

Having appeared on the surface, the fish again goes into the depths, pulls the boat along with it, and the old man gathers strength to hold it. Not believing in God, he reads the “Our Father.”

Another day passes. To distract himself, the old man remembers baseball games. He remembers how he once measured his strength in a Casablanca tavern with a powerful black man, the strongest man in the port, how they sat at the table for a whole day, without giving up, and how he, in the end, gained the upper hand. He took part in similar fights more than once, won, but then gave it up, deciding that he needed his right hand for fishing.

The battle with the fish continues. Santiago holds the line with his right hand, knowing that when his strength runs out, it will be replaced by his left, the cramp in which has long passed. A small fishing rod catches a mackerel. The old man reinforces his strength with it, although this fish is not at all tasty. He feels sorry for the big fish that has nothing to eat, but this does not diminish his determination to kill it.

It's good that we don't have to kill the sun, moon and stars. It is enough that we extort food from the sea and kill our brothers.

At night, the fish comes to the surface and begins to walk in circles, sometimes approaching the boat, sometimes moving away from it. This is a sign that the fish is tired. The old man is preparing a harpoon to finish off the fish. But she steps aside. Because of fatigue, thoughts are confused in the old man’s head, and black spots dance before his eyes. Santiago gathers his remaining strength and plunges the harpoon into the fish's side.

And then the fish came to life, although it already carried death within itself - it rose high above the water, as if boasting of its enormous length and width, all its beauty and power.

Overcoming nausea and weakness, the old man ties the fish to the side of the boat and turns towards the shore. The direction of the wind tells him which way to sail to get home.

An hour passes before the first shark appears, having swum to the smell of blood. She approaches the stern and begins to tear the fish with her teeth. The old man hits her with a harpoon in the most vulnerable spot on her skull. She sinks to the bottom, taking with her a harpoon, part of a rope and a huge piece of fish.

Santiago kills two more sharks with a knife tied to an oar. These sharks take at least a quarter of the fish with them. On the fourth shark, the knife breaks, and the old man takes out a strong club.

He knew that every push of the shark on the boat meant a piece of torn off meat and that the fish now left a trail in the sea as wide as a highway, and accessible to all sharks in the world.

The next group of sharks attacks the boat just before sunset. The old man drives them away with blows to the head with his baton, but at night they return. Santiago fights the predators first with a club, then with a sharp piece of tiller. Finally the sharks swim away: they have nothing left to eat.

An old man enters the cove near his hut in the dead of night. Having removed the mast and tied the sail, he wanders towards the house, feeling incredibly tired. For a moment, the old man turns around and sees behind the stern of his boat a huge tail of a fish and the reflection of a white ridge.

A boy comes to the old man's hut. Santiago is sleeping. The boy cries when he sees his wounded palms. He brings the old man coffee, calms him down and assures him that from now on they will fish together, because he still has a lot to learn. He believes that he will bring good luck to the old man.

In the morning, fishermen look in amazement at the remains of a giant fish. Rich tourists come to the shore. They are surprised to notice a long white spine with a huge tail. The waiter tries to tell them what happened, but they don’t understand anything - they are too far from this life.

And the old man is sleeping at this time, and he dreams of lions.

Year of publication of the book: 1952

The story “The Old Man and the Sea” by Hemingway first saw the light back in 1952 in one of the American periodicals. It was for this work that the writer received the Pulitzer Prize. Based on Hemingway’s story “The Old Man and the Sea,” many performances were staged and several feature films were made. The last film to be released in 2012 was “Shal,” produced in Kazakhstan.

The story “The Old Man and the Sea” summary

Hemingway's story "The Old Man and the Sea" tells how an old man named Santiago has been going to sea every day for more than two months, but he has never been able to catch anything. Because of this, the residents of his village consider the hero unlucky. Just a few days ago, Santiago went to sea in the company of a boy named Manolin. However, now the parents of this same boy forbade their son to communicate with the old man, because they believed that he was bringing him bad luck. Nevertheless, Manolin is very fond of Santiago, who taught him all the intricacies of fishing. The boy even buys large sardines that would make good bait and brings them to the old fisherman's house.

In the work “The Old Man and the Sea” we can read that Santiago himself lives quite modestly and has even come to terms with his poor life. The next morning, the old man goes fishing again, which will bring terrible trials. Manolin helps him prepare the boat for departure. With all his heart, the main character believes that this time luck will smile on him. While fishing, he enjoys the view of the sea and plunges into memories. The first fish to bite the bait is a small tuna. Santiago was delighted, expecting that larger fish might be swimming near the tunas.

In the work “The Old Man and the Sea,” the summary says that soon the old man’s fishing rod begins to be pulled to the side. Pulling the line, Santiago realizes that a huge fish has taken his bait. He tries to pull her out, but to no avail. The hero regrets that Manolin is not next to him now, who could help him get the fish. Meanwhile, evening comes, and Santiago’s hands are already covered with scars from the fishing line. He pulls on the fishing rod and places a bag under it so he can rest a little.

In Hemingway’s story “The Old Man and the Sea” we can read that throughout the night the fish continues to pull the old man’s boat as far as possible from the village. Despite being very tired, Santiago never stops thinking about how lucky he was in the form of a big fish. The hero understands that he will try to get her to the last. In the morning, the exhausted old man was forced to eat a single tuna. The tugging of the fishing line caused a severe cramp in Santiago's left hand. Suddenly the same fish appears above the water. She was purple in color and had a huge sword-sharp nose. The old man is surprised because he has never seen such a large fish. Now he definitely doesn't want to lose her.

In Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, the summary says that another day passes and the main character is still struggling with the fish. Distracted from hunger and loneliness, he begins to remember his childhood and youth and even talks to himself. Alternately changing hands, he continues to hold the fishing line so as not to lose the exhausted fish. At night, the old man manages to plunge a harpoon into the side of his prey. He ties her to the boat and heads home.

Meanwhile, a shark had already swam towards the smell of blood. Santiago gets rid of her with a harpoon. However, having sank to the bottom, the shark took the weapon with it. In addition, she managed to bite off a large piece of fish. After that, there were several more sharks, which Santiago tried to scare away with a knife and a huge club. They all took turns biting the fish, so soon the old man noticed that he only had the huge head of the prey and its backbone tied to the boat.

Ernest Hemingway's story "The Old Man and the Sea" tells how an exhausted Santiago enters the bay and goes home. In the morning Manolin comes to him. The boy notices the wounded hands of the protagonist and tries to think how to help the old man. He brings him coffee and tells him that he wants to continue fishing together so that Santiago does not feel lonely. That same morning, all the villagers look at the old man’s huge catch. Even tourists gathered around the fish, trying to figure out what exactly Santiago had caught. The old man continues to sleep soundly and dreams of huge lions walking along the coast of Africa.

The story “The Old Man and the Sea” on the Top books website

Hemingway’s story “The Old Man and the Sea” is still as popular to read as it was decades ago. Thanks to this, the story ended up in ours, as well as in. And given the consistently high interest in Hemingway’s work and creativity, we will see this work more than once among.

"The Old Man and the Sea"(The Old Man And The Sea) is a story by Ernest Hemingway, published in 1952. Tells the story of old man Santiago, a Cuban fisherman, and his struggle with a giant fish that became the biggest catch of his life.

History of creation

The idea for this work matured in Hemingway for many years. Back in 1936, in the essay “On Blue Water” for Esquire magazine, he described a similar episode that happened to a Cuban fisherman.

The story itself was published in September 1952 in Life magazine. After the publication of the story, Hemingway revealed his creative plan in one interview. He said that the book “The Old Man and the Sea” could have more than a thousand pages, in this book every resident of the village could find their place, all the ways in which they earn their living, how they are born, learn, raise children. This is all well done by other writers. In literature you are limited to what has been satisfactorily done before. So I have to try to find out something else. First, I tried to omit everything that was unnecessary in order to convey my experience to the readers so that after reading it it would become part of their experience and seem to really happen. This is very difficult to achieve and I worked very hard at it. In any case, to put it briefly, this time I was incredibly lucky, and I was able to convey the experience completely, and at the same time such an experience that no one has ever conveyed. In 1953, Ernest Hemingway received the Pulitzer Prize for his work, and in 1954, the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Plot

For 84 days, the old Cuban fisherman Santiago goes to sea and cannot catch anything. And only his little friend Manolin continues to help him, although his father forbids him to fish with old Santiago. They are still friends and often talk about this and that. On the 85th day, the old man goes out to sea, as usual, on his sailboat, and luck smiles on him - a marlin about 5.5 meters long is hooked. The old man regrets that the boy is not with him; it is not easy to cope alone. Over the course of several days, a real battle takes place between fish and man. The old man was able to cope with a fish with his bare hands, which was longer than his boat and armed with a sword. But the marlin takes the boat far out to sea; it’s not enough to catch a fish - you still have to swim with it to the shore. Using the blood from the fish's wounds, sharks gather at the old man's boat and devour the fish. The old man enters into a fight with them, but here the forces are not equal. When he swims to the shore, all that remains of the fish is a skeleton, a head and a sword, which Santiago gives to the boy as a souvenir.