Old Man and the Sea Lecture Review

The lecture on the Old Man and the Sea was far more interesting than I had initially expected.
 Every time I read a good book, I would search on the internet for an analysis to broaden my perspectives and understanding but sometimes I find things like,,,'the blue curtains represent the character's immense sadness' and I'm just there going, 'no it does not.'
It is impossible to truly understand the author's true motives when he or she was writing the novel. However, Paul's lecture today taught me that we don't need to do that. All we can do as readers is just gather up all of the information that we can and 'imagine' what the author's incentives were...again, it certainly might not be accurate but will allow you to make your own version of the book.

The most interesting point to me throughout the lecture was the contrast between Hemingway's struggle as a father and son and the characters in the book. As explained in the lecture, Hemingway's father committed suicide and Hemingway regretted not being there for him. At the same time, Hemingway was a father to three sons and because Hemingway knew that he was not a good father, he experienced an extreme inflict. These personal facts that can easily be paralleled to the relationship between Santiago and Manolin make the whole concept of the book seem so much more real, raw and relevant.
On the other hand, Paul talked about how Santiago was a symbol of Jesus Christ. I do not have anything against Christianity of course but I have a major disliking for when Jesus Christ is involved in the parallel of books. It just makes the book seem so unoriginal and based on the bible.

Paul told us to read the book aloud next time. According to him, the book is not just a book but a poem itself. I could tell from the way he talks about the book that Paul absolutely loves Hemingway and this book as well.

The way we interpret every book is so different. However, that's one of the best bits of literature, we get to make our own little story. I hope to include at least one book by Hemingway for our summer reading!