On Faith…

When I picked up The Old Man And The Sea, I knew that it had won a Pulitzer Prize and was lauded as one of the finest short stories ever to be written. So as I began to read, I realised I had two choices – either read every line, studying it and finding sub-textual messages, or just read it simply as a story. I chose the latter.

To be honest, I’m not a big fan of short stories on the whole. Yet, I enjoyed this one cause it’s quite a long short story! [Watch out! Spoilers ahead!]

So the story is about an old man, a little boy and a giant fish. Interlaced is the old man’s love-hate relationship with the sea. It is his livelihood – for he is a fisherman – but it is also his constant challenge. To me, the story was all about faith – unwavering, undying, unchanging. The old man’s faith in his skill and ability to bring home a really big catch; his faith that he would be the victor; the little boy’s faith in the old man, despite evidence to the contrary, are peppered throughout the pages.

I also particularly liked how the old man’s feelings for the fish underwent a subtle change as the story progressed. Initially the fish is just a trophy of his achievement, but through the course of their epic battle, the old man soon acknowledges that it is a worthy adversary and begins to respect it, eventually even becoming comrades!

Hemingway’s words have painted a beautiful vista - of an ordinary fisherman who had an extraordinary experience. And like a work of art, it remains with you even after time has gone by.