The Old Man and the Sea- Hero

I think the hero in the book The Old Man and the Sea is the old man. Generally, the hero is the one who saves the day or the one who does something amazing, but in this book the hero is just an old man who catches a fish. At the beginning of this book, the author introduces the old man by describing him as very poor and unlucky, but as the story goes on traits about the old man are revealed that make him seem very heroic. First of all, the old man is a very kind and loving person. The author shows how kind and loving he is through his relationship with a young boy. The young boy was an apprentice to the old man, but as the old man was very unlucky he was forced to fish with another boat. The old man is always very kind to the young boy and often thinks about him a lot. I think that being kind and loving represent the abstract idea of goodness. Also, as the old man goes out to sea and struggles to catches this big marlin, many other heroic traits are revealed. The old man shows great strength and courage as he battles against this fish for three days. The old man had little food, water, and sleep but he continued to push through it all just for this one great fish. The old man shows a lot of determination as he fights against this fish. He is determined not to give up, and I think that is very heroic. The old man perseveres through many struggles just to come back home with this monster fish, which I think shows what the author knows about human nature. Everybody has a sense of pride and everybody wants to do good, and the author reveals that through the old man. The old man wanted to bring back this huge fish back and fought against the sharks so much because this fish was his pride.

Bibliography

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