The imagery used in The Old Man and the Sea was astonishing. All the fish and characters were described with such detail that it felt as if I was hovering over the characters the whole story. I think Ernest Hemingway did a fantastic job describing all the fish. As Santiago sat patiently on his boat, he saw many different fish. Hemingway described those fish using unique words and extremely descriptive colors. Santiago catches a tuna while waiting for a larger fish to take one of his other lines, and Hemingway describes the tuna in full detail. He talks about the awkward bullet shape of the fish and how large and unintelligent it’s eyes appear as it flops around on Santiago’s boat. He notes the tuna’s brilliant blue and black colors as Santiago reels it in, and the shiny gold on the tuna’s sides as it is pulled up and out of the water. Hemingway’s use of detail makes it easy for the reader to feel as though they are viewing the fish in real life. The same amount of detail is used to describe all the other fish Santiago sees swimming beneath the water or floating on the surface like the light purple, dangerously beautiful Portuguese man-o-war.
The fish are not the only things that are described in extreme detail in The Old Man and the Sea. Hemingway describes how Santiago is able to feel the delicate pull of a fish by holding the line lightly between his thumb and forefinger. He uses words like “shivering” and “taut” to help the reader feel what Santiago is feeling when he senses a fish biting at one of his lines. The imagery in this novel is not overwhelming, which I found nice. Some novels use either too few or far too many describing words, and I think that can make a novel boring or too confusing, but Hemingway uses a wide range of adjectives and action verbs to help make The Old Man and the Sea a detailed yet simple novel.
No comments:
Post a Comment