the Old man and the sea英语读后感

Having finished reading this book, I was lost in thought—what have I read?

Many readers appreciate the old man as a hero, but I don’t think so. As for me, the greatest quality of this book is its authenticity, as well as ordinary.

The old man, Santiago, is a weak old man. How dare of me to show this opinion! Of course, you can negative my viewpoint.

If Hemingway wrote this novel just for describing a hero with his epic, heroic experiences, he did not need to express it by a series of ordinary events. In fact, tons of modern network novels involve enough grand scenes, like catastrophe, universe, which are more properly to describe a hero.

The attraction of this book is not the qualities of bravery and strong Santiago has, but the epitome of our life we see from the old man.

The beginning is a boy Manolin took care of a lonely old man, which stands for warmth.

Next is Santiago went to sea alone, sitting in his skiff. This stands for bravery.

Santiago fished a big fish that may be a biggest one that Santiago has ever caught. This stands for dream.

In the battle between Santiago and the marlin fish, Santiago held the fishing line against his back until it was so taut that beads of water

were jumping from it. He just held it, bracing leaning back against the pull. This is perseverance.

During the battle with the marlin fish, Santiago fished some small fishes, and this is called harvest.

Finally, after a long fighting with the big fish, Santiago successfully fixed the marlin fish to the edge of his skiff. This is award.

When sharks had eaten the marlin fish, they gone and left the skeleton of the fish. This is a sense of loneliness.

Have you finished reading the sentences I mentioned above? Do you feel similar? Yes, it is similar with the epitome of our life.

When we were children, we got a sense of warmth from family. When we were grown up, we had a dream, and fought for it with your strong willpower, and finally you harvested. You got the honor you deserve.

However, at the end of the story, Hemingway set a tragic ending. Do you think the ending is so sad?

No! Not at all! He deserves this kind of ending.

We can check three scenes in the book. The first is Santiago told to Manolin that he missed a chance of getting along with baseball star. The second one is after fished the big fish, Santiago was afraid of the authenticity. He thought it was too good to last. The third one is the word Santiago told to Manolin when he went back to the fishing village.

He said they truly beat me. All the scenes imply Santiago’s self-denial.

We are like Santiago. People refuse to accept unfamiliar things, so that they miss opportunity easily. People are worry about those things he or she got that beyond his or her capability. Here is the famous saying from Santiago: A man can be destroyed but not defeated. I think it is more like Santiago’s fantasy, but not his real mental power.

Thus, Santiago’s weakness results in his tragic ending. Because fighting with sea is his inherent talent, as a fishing man, and when he was faced with things that exceed his horizon, his weakness was exposed.

It is so true because of its weakness. It is so great because of its truth.

DiMaggio, a baseball star, was mentioned several times in this book. When Santiago was lack of mental power on the sea, he would always mention DiMaggio, even compared his hands with DiMaggio’s.

In the book, Santiago wished to have a radio so he could listen to the baseball news during fishing. In fact, he did wish to broaden his horizon. He desired to see the world.

Here is a metaphor in the book: the old man said they say his father was a fisherman. Maybe he was as poor as we are and would understand. “The great Sisler’s father was never poor and he, the father, was playing in the Big Leagues when he was my age.”Baseball star’s

father was a fish man and finally played in the Big Leagues. These words imply that Santiago’s envy.

Santiago, the old man, was not resigned to be a fish man all his life. So he spoke out his thinking, which is my favorite sentence in this book. “Besides, he thought, everything kills everything else in some way. Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me alive. ” Fishing not only is the way of keeping Santiago alive, but also is a barrier between him and the outside world.

Everything kills everything else in some way. Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me alive. This sentence, doubtlessly, touches many people’s heart. Indeed, who is willing to be an ordinary person?

However, Santiago’s weakness is based on the unfamiliar things. Now let me show the other opinions of this book.

There is a saying, “I don’t believe so called fate, but I believe everyone has his or her limit. Limit exists everywhere.”

There is none without fault. As a good fish man Santiago is, he can’t get fish all the time. He has his limit, like the best farmer suffers drought, or the good hunter don’t find any prey. All people will reach his or her limit, sooner or later, as if those people are blocked by fate.

Santiago reached his limit, and he did not give up. He was not gloomy. He continued going to sea. He threw a challenge to limit. Finally he got a big fish. But the fish pulled him far away from the land, and fought with

the old man. Santiago and the fish were locked in battle. The fish swam in the sea for several days. Santiago could not have a long rest, and he got many injuries during the battle. He could just cut the fishing line then he could get rid of the trouble. He did not choose this choice, even kept fighting the battle that out of his limit. He knew if he cut the line, he gave up himself. He won.

In the way he went back the fishing village. He was attacked by a group of sharks. He exerted all his energies to campaign for his big fish. Fish spear was broke off. He lost all the weapons. Yes, he was blocked by his limit. And then night fell, he started the campaign again by quant, wooden stick, even rudder until he found he had lost the value of protection.

Santiago arrived at the village tiredly with a skeleton of fish, a shabby skiff. What did other fish men think?

Someone said he is a brave old man though he failed.

What is failure? Maybe it is the fact of something or someone not succeeding.

Those people who fight with fate for themselves, who try to break their limit, always feel such a failure. Although Santiago is a fish man, he cannot make the fished to eat his bait. He always comes back empty handed. A person who wants to destroy the limit of his life will always fail; a person who is crazy about exploring the mysteries of nature will

always fail; a person who tries to reform the society will always fail. Only those who choose to live a life within the limit will always succeed. But this kind of success might means that he or she never fights for it.

Actually, in our life, there has another definition about failure, which means a person loses his or her faith and gives up. It is a real failure when people give in to the limitation. We never insist a person who keeps fighting is a loser. In this way, Santiago, the old man, didn’t fail. He never put down his weapon, causes he just lost his weapon, and he didn’t lose his faith. Thus, Santiago is not a failed hero.

So why do we say Santiago is a winner even he got nothing? Santiago always goes to sea full of bravery that is invincible.

Just as Santiago goes to sea every day, people go to the battlefield of struggling with limitation. All of us have our own limit. However, we are fighting and growing during the working of breaking the limit, and the limit is becoming more and more fragile. No matter who launches the spaceship, and who fishes marlin fish by shabby fishing gear in his skiff, he or she is a hero because he or she is doing a great thing.

《the Old Man and the Sea》contains lots of praises. But the greatest quality of this book is its authenticity, as well as ordinary. In fact, this book is an epitome. It can be the employee and the enterprise, or the student and the school, or the doctor and the hospital. Those people who love their job position, and look forward to the outside world, are

like the old man and the sea.

Finally, please allow me to share my favorite sentence in this book: everything kills everything else in some way. Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me alive