Monday, July 26, 2010

The Catcher in the Rye: Final Thoughts

My final thoughts about The Catcher in the Rye are as followed:

I like The Catcher in the Rye very much. The novel made me laugh from start to finish. Holden Caulfield may be one of my favorite characters out of the many books that I have read. He is a very troubled character, and although I can not relate to him in some areas, in others I can. I can relate to how he feels when Jane goes on a date with someone besides himself. I can relate to how he sometimes hates people without even really knowing them, but I also know how it feels to just meet someone and know that they are a good person (like the nuns.)

I think The Catcher in the Rye has a pretty good message. The message being that sometimes you just need to grow up and see the world for what it really is and not what only you see it as. I think that was the problem Holden had throughout the whole novel. He was very skeptical with people that he did not know, and with the people he did know, he did not like most of them. The only people he really seemed to like were his sister, his little brother, and Jane.

I like that throughout the novel Holden is finding out what he really thinks about the world. At the beginning he is just one person in a world full of hate and "phonies". Towards the middle he meets some good people that he likes a lot, and in the end he finds out what he really likes about the world. He likes the innocence of childhood, and he wishes everyone could still be like that. Of course, he does go through therapy at the end, so we all know he was definitely a little wacko.

All in all I thought the book was a very good one. It was very entertaining, and I enjoyed it very much.

The Old Man and the Sea: Final Thoughts

My final thoughts on The Old Man and the Sea are as followed:

I absolutely positively did not like the book at all. For the most part it was super boring. If I had to give a summary of the book nobody would ever want to read it. My summary would be this:

An old man who is a fisherman has not caught a fish in a bunch of days. Everyone makes fun of him. There is a boy in the village who takes care of him. He goes way out to sea by himself without food or water (good thinking bud) and tries really hard to catch a big fish. He finally actually does catch a fish, but on his way home a bunch of sharks eat it. The end.

Now I don't know about you, but I would totally go grab myself a copy of that book after that amazing summary. (If you don't understand sarcasm I'm just kidding.)

I understand that the novel has a lot of symbolism and themes and stuff, but it was still very boring to read. I also did not like that it did not have any chapters. That just made me forget where I left off when I went to read it again.

In all honesty though, some parts of the book were a little interesting. When Santiago finally caught the marlin I got a little excited. He definitely deserved to finally catch a fish. He seems like a pretty nice old guy, and he is a very hard worker. I was also very sad when the sharks ate his fish. You knew it would happen though. I mean, he tied the big bloody fish to the side of his tiny skiff. It was dragging in the water just asking to be eaten. It was especially sad when the old man ran out of things to defend his fish with. At the end he just kind of gave up. That was pretty depressing.

Thankfully all the people in the village see the skeleton of his huge fish, so they finally stop making fun of him. I do like that he finally finds peace in the end too.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The Catcher in the Rye: Holden Caulfield

Holden Caulfield, the main character of The Catcher in the Rye is a very strange person. Holden has many ideas about a lot of different subjects.

Holden is somewhat of a troubled teenage boy. He has been kicked out of four schools, and nothing really seems to interest him. The only things Holden seems to care about are his sister Phoebe, his brother Allie, and his friend Jane.

Phoebe is his little sister who "really knocks him out". In other words, she makes him laugh a lot. Phoebe is a few years younger than Holden, but she is very smart. Holden tells her a lot of his secrets, and he really enjoys her company.

Allie is Holden's little brother. Allie died a year or so before the book takes place. Allie was also a very smart younger sibling. One of Holden's fondest memories of Allie is Allie's baseball glove. Allie played in the outfield, so he wrote a bunch of poems all over his glove so that he would have something to do.

Jane is Holden's next door neighbor. He would spend summers with her, and he really respects her. He obviously has a huge crush on her. In the novel, Holden always tells the story of how he and Jane would play checkers, and she would always leave her kings in the back row. He thought that was funny.

Holden is very skeptical about people. He likes to call people phony. He calls almost everyone phony. Holden puts people in categories, and he does not try to get to know them to see who they really are. The way he acts towards most people shows that he is pretty immature. It is easy to toss someone aside, but it takes a mature person to not judge and to just get to know someone.

Holden is also very interested in sex even though he is a virgin. He is always trying to have sex or make out with someone. Although Holden is always trying to have sex with strangers, he gets very mad when his friend Jane goes on a date with his roommate because she does not know him.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

The Old Man and the Sea: Man vs. Nature

In The Old Man and the Sea Santiago undergoes many hard obstacles in nature. Santiago has to deal with the deep ocean waters, the hot sun, the marlin, and many sharks.

Throughout his journey Santiago battles the sun and the water. Santiago did not know that he would be out at sea for as long as he was. He did not bring any water, food, or sun protection. Santiago suffers from dehydration. He cannot drink the ocean water because there is salt in it, and that would make him more dehydrated. During the day Santiago also feels the sun beating down on him. He cannot hide from the sun because he has nothing to hide from it with.

Santiago also has to battle the marlin. The marlin drags Santiago across the ocean for about three days. The marlin does not give up easily, so Santiago sees him as a worthy opponent. Both Santiago and the marlin suffer in their battle. Santiago gets hand cramps, cuts, and a ruined back. The marlin slowly suffers because he has a fishing hook in his mouth. Once the marlin jumps up in the air and remains close to the surface, Santiago can finally really start pulling him in. In the end, Santiago finally wins the battle and ends up killing the marlin.

After Santiago kills the marlin he has to fight off all the sharks that come to eat his fish. Santiago sees the sharks as dumb predators. He does not see them as worthy opponents at all. Some of the sharks come in two, so Santiago has to try to fight them both off at the same time. To kill the sharks Santiago would use something sharp and stab them right in the brain. After a few shark attacks, Santiago loses all of his sharp objects, so he has to let them eat his fish until he lands on shore.

Although Santiago did not fully beat all the sharks, he still won against the marlin, who was, in his eyes, a worthy competitor.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

The Old Man and the Sea: Fight for Life

The Old Man and the Sea has two big examples of life after death and fighting for ones life.

Santiago is an old man, and he knows that his time will be up soon. Thankfully, he has an apprentice. The apprentice's name is Manolin. Manolin left Santiago for a little while because he was not catching any fish. Manolin's father forced him to leave Santiago because he had terrible luck.

After Santiago catches his marlin, Manolin comes back to him; not because his father said he could, but because he loves Santiago and wants to learn his way of fishing. After Manolin comes back, Santiago knows he has someone who will extend his way of fishing after his death. He now has a successor in life.

Before Santiago was sure he had a successor, he had to fight to stay alive while he was at sea. Santiago went to deeper waters without any food or water. He was unaware that he would be out there for over three days. He manages to catch a few smaller fish to eat, but he is not hungry. He only eats the fish to keep up his strength. Santiago is mainly thirsty, and after awhile he becomes a little delirious from dehydration. Along with not getting enough nutrients, Santiago also has to deal with the fiery sun that beats on him all day long.

Santiago suffers many cuts and cramps while he is in pursuit of his marlin. He almost breaks down physically, but he is able to hold on until the fish is dead.

Along with Santiago, the marlin is also fighting for his life. He puts up a pretty good fight too. The marlin manages to pull Santiago along for three days until he has to jump into the air to fill his air pockets. After his air pockets have been filled, Santiago manages to slowly pull him in and kill him. Right before the marlin dies, he leaps one last leap into the air. Said by the author, " Then the fish came alive, with his death in him, and rose high out of the water showing all his great length and width and all his power and his beauty."

I think, at this part of the novel, that the marlin symbolizes the act of dying. Before being pulled in, the marlin makes a very good fight to stay alive. He does not show any weakness. Then, right as he is about to die, he makes one final attempt at showing Santiago all that he is made of.

This act from the marlin is similar to Santiago's actions at the end of the novel. Santiago knows that he is old and that he will not be able to catch such a magnificent fish ever again, but being able to bring in such a huge skeleton suffices him.

The enormous fish skeleton is Santiago's final leap into the air.

The Old Man and the Sea: Santiago

Santiago is the old man in The Old Man and the Sea. He seems to be a very quiet old man, and he is always wrapped up in his thoughts. Santiago has not caught a fish in several days, therefore he is the laughing stoke of his small village. Soon, he decides to go way out to sea where all the big fish are in hopes of catching one.

The want to go far out where no other fisherman has gone proves that Santiago is a very dedicated fisherman. It also shows that he is determined to change his luck.

Soon Santiago feels a big tug on one of his lines. It is a marlin; this is exactly was Santiago has been waiting for. Through the course of three days Santiago battles the fish to pull him in. Santiago suffers from cramped and cut hands and an almost completely destroyed back. He also becomes very thirsty and almost delirious at times.

The way Santiago holds on to the fish for three days once again proves that he is dedicated and determined. It also proves that he is persistent and has a lot of endurance. Most people would give up after a few hours of having to hold on to such a big and strong fish.

Soon Santiago is able to kill the marlin and pull him in, but he still has the task of getting the fish to shore in one piece. Unfortunately, Santiago's fish gets attacked several times by many sharks. Santiago tries to fight them off, but he runs out of things to fight them off with.

Santiago returns to shore with nothing but a marlin skeleton. Although he was not able to bring the fish to shore, Santiago still found peace in his giant catch. His physical capabilities are almost completely gone, but Santiago finds a successor in his apprentice, Manolin.

So throughout the book the reader finds that Santiago is a good old man. He is dedicated, persistent, determined, and has a lot of endurance. Santiago also has a lot of pride. He would not have gone way out to sea if he did not want to redeem himself and his pride as a fisherman.