You can never be satisfied with the emotions that Hemingway creates. I remember mentioning this to a friend that reading his books are like having an interaction with my very close friend. I don’t even realise that I am reading, it’s like him conversing with me. Hemingway is my favourite author and the very next would-be JD Salinger.
Coming back to this book, in the surface (like sea) we get to read a simple plot which includes the following characters, but when you finish this book and as the thoughts starts pouring in you get to see the hidden treasures.
The Characters
Santiago – The old fisherman was taken at every chance to put down by the community. Even though he was a skilled fisherman in his prime, now with this old age, he was considered to be lost at his skills and unlucky, because he had gone 84 days without a catch.
Manolin – The boy, who learned the skill from Santiago. This kid got a huge respect for Santiago and he believed in the old man. The boy also helps and provides for the old man.
Marlin – It is a kind of fish, with whom the old man spends several days at the sea to capture it.
The Story
Our old man goes into sea, a solo voyage, to prove his fishermen community that he is still capable of making a big catch and his skills are still upto date like in his prime days. In this endeavour,he succeeds or not?
Before I get into the treasure hidden beneath the sea, I must record the connection Hemingway constructs between the main characters old man and the boy. It is something that will stay with me forever, it provides me a greater venue inrepresenting the examples about certain relationships. Same was the case with the character named Catherine from the book ‘A Farewell To Arms’, even though I read this book years back, I still remember how strong a character she was.
Now about the treasures we can find from this subtle story, let us name it under current themes are the followings.
Pain / Suffering
Nothing comes to us easily (most cases). For a fisherman’s worthwhile catch comes from his painful physical and mental injuries. Enduring pain that is what it’s meant to be a fisherman. The old man’s hands are marred with scars, which depicts us a lifelong struggle with the opponents at the sea.
Samsara
Hemingway, with his narrative audacity throws the thoughts that sea is cruel and beautiful. It gives life and takes it away. Isn’t it similar in case of our lives with ups and downs? The sharks devours marlins, the man catches fish.
Pride & Respect
The old man has pride for his skills and wants recognition for his community (each one of us want it too, right? so don’t just like it, do comment your thoughts too). On his solo voyage he wished that the boy was with him not only to dispel loneliness but also to show the boy that what kind of a man he was and to witness the greatest catch of his life.
Inspirational
I felt it like one of the most inspiring stories that we couldpossibly have come across.
When all other hopes are set comes the book to give you that boost to kick start and keep going, this one is truly an inspiring read. It is the story of perseverance. Instead defying his streak of bad luck, the old man keeps going out to catch fish, trying even harder than the previous time. No matter what Santiago is not defeated, nor his spirit is broken. Isn’t the shot we all needed to make believe, fall six times rise seven? Indeed, you will also connect once you read this story.
Like Jesus bearing his cross, our old man will carry his mast to and from in his skiff day in & out doing what a fisherman is meant to do, to set sail and catch fish.
As a writer there are several things that demand your attention even if you are a full time writer, or a part time, if you are a diarist or you simply like journaling your life. Specification, attention to details is demanding nonetheless and most often than not life and mood comes in the way of putting pen to paper, or shall we go with the more modern phenomenon of typing words on screen. Whatever be the case, writing is not just as simple as sitting down to write and scribble or type. And yet, I will say that it is exactly just as simple as that. I have this one and only solution to overcome the writer’s block that you might be going through and at first it might sound irrational and useless but that is what I have found works best for me and for most writers I have interacted with.
So what is exactly writers block? For most of us, it is simply a lack of will to write. This lack of will could have been generated because something went wrong in school or work, or you have been in a fight or you lack the energy, you are tired, you are simply in the wrong mood as compared to the genre that you are currently writing. The list and the reasons go on. You can add as many as you like but it all turns towards the one end of not being able to write- wordlessness.
Now, how does one overcome this block? Surely, it cannot be as easy as to sit down, breathe and write. But what if I told you it is? I promise this is not a self-help post, which will inspire you this second and will turn on you just as soon as you shut down the page. This is a diligent practice that needs patience and reflection. So when you are unable to write because you are angry, or tired or lack the peace of mind, all you have to do is feel your honest feelings and write.
Write the feelings that you feel and see the words unroll.
I am not saying the block is merely a façade, nor am I saying that once you start sorting your feeling out you will be able to sail through your manuscript. What I am saying is when you come face to face with the block and with your own feelings; you overwork your mind and stop analyzing things. Giving up comes easy than perseverance. So when one starts sorting their own feelings, and tries writing them down, it puts words on paper, clearing one’s mind of them. If you are angry write down what you are angry, what is the reason behind it, and the same goes for any other emotion. Write down every aspect of what you are feeling. It doesn’t have to be analytical or a philosophical journaling of Beauvoir, it can be as simple and as childish and as honest as you want to make it. Write down you had tea in the morning and you fought with your boss over unnecessary matter. Write how you feel about the character on the book that you are reading. Write an idea on a plot of the book that you didn’t like and what would you do to them had you been the writer. Write a letter to someone close. Write the making of an easy recipe. Write your hate. Write your love. Write your raw emotions. And once that is out, you can try continuing the process for a few days. Slowly, you might initiate working towards what you want to actually write and even if it does not happen soon, you have already broken the block, by writing down your day-to-day feelings. It is not that simple and yet it is just as simple.
Write Raw. Write Honest.
Writers block is not really a myth but it also does not hold the kind of power that we allow it to hold over us.
Happy Writing.
Moushmi is the Author of POSIES and 03:21 AM: An Ode to Rust & Restlessness, Resignation of an Angel is Moushmi’s third poetry collection. Her works have been published at various online literary magazines and she has also been a contributing writer for anthology collections namely, ‘Mirage’ and ‘The Lockdown Stories’
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