There were eight of us at our meeting on Thursday 20th July where we discussed “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway. The three words we chose to describe our reaction to the book were:
- Sad, Atmospheric (very)
- Direct, Darwinian, Dramatic
- Happy calm book
- Lacking moral complexity
- Enthralling, Emotive, Masterly
- Direct, Conversational, Romanticised
- Too much fishing
- Authentic, Memorable, Gritty
Karen led the group in our discussions and posed the following questions:
- For whom did the bell toll?
- Did you enjoy the book?
- How did it make you feel?
- Are you glad you read it?
- Was it a tender or a brutal book?
Everyone enjoyed reading the book, but there were a few reservations: that it was too conversational and that it was always obvious how the book would end, although whether it was the death of the man or the loss of the fish wasn’t clear until the appearance of the sharks. When considering what the book was about some thought it was courage and endurance, others that it was about the journey. Hemingway’s idea of the iceberg was also discussed; that a few words or a sentence should be enough to suggest the majority of meaning below the surface.
Richard said that he thought two stories in the 1927 collection, “Men without Women”, were basically on the same theme. You can read the stories on the Project Gutenberg website. He also thought that the theme could be summed up in the opening lines of Dylan Thomas’s poem, “Do not go gentle into that good night”.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
You can read the whole poem, written for his father, on the poets.org website.
Please leave your own thoughts in the comments section below.
Harbury Village Library & Biblios Cafe 