The Old Man and the Sea - Language, nature and dreams

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 2,7, University of Cologne, course: Literary Modernism, language: English, abstract: “The Old Man and the Sea” is the most popular narrative of Ernest Hemingway. Although Hemingway’s style of writing and the plot are very simple, there is no point where the reader gets bored. On the contrary: I was fascinated by Hemingway’s plain language and his story about Santiago, the old Cuban fisherman. The first part of my term paper gives a brief overview of Hemingway’s life. In addition to that there will be a summary of “The Old Man and the Sea” to give an overview of the content. Afterwards I will have a closer look at the narrative itself. After characterizing Santiago and Manolin I will analyze Hemingway’s language and pay particular attention to the meaning of Santiago’s dreams and ideals. Nature plays an important role and is described in great detail in this story about the old man. Therefore the ensuing part of this seminar paper deals with the image of nature and how Santiago feels about it. Finally there will be some considerations about what Hemingway wanted to say by his masterpiece, and a brief conclusion.