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Madeline's Reviews > The Old Man and the Sea
The Old Man and the Sea
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"There isn't any symbolism. The sea is the sea. The old man is an old man. The boy is a boy and the fish is a fish. The sharks are all sharks no better and no worse. All the symbolism that people say is shit. What goes beyond is what you see beyond when you know."
-Ernest Hemingway
-Ernest Hemingway
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The Old Man and the Sea.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
January 1, 2005
–
Finished Reading
June 2, 2007
– Shelved
July 11, 2008
– Shelved as:
the-list
March 24, 2009
– Shelved as:
assigned-reading
Comments Showing 1-50 of 82 (82 new)
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Angela
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rated it 3 stars
Jul 14, 2010 07:23AM
The spoiler button is there for a reason. If you're going to sum up everything (including the ending) in your first couple of lines please use it in the future.
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I wrote this review before Goodreads added the spoiler button. You're the first to complain about it, but I will mark this as a spoiler-riffic review if it means that much to you.
Too bad goodreads doesn't have a "snarky comment" button...
isn't the title "the old man and the sea" kind of a spoiler in and of itself? it totally ruined the book for me. fucking hemingway.
You mean there are people who didn't get the synopsis from South Park?
Oh God, people are anaylzing it? Please say it ain't so. I read it for a book club.
Oh God, people are anaylzing it? Please say it ain't so. I read it for a book club.
Oh, people analyze this one to DEATH. Want to know the best way to start a fight in a group of English majors? Ask them what the lions on the beach symbolize. Blood will be spilled.
Ummm, what do the lion on the beach symbolize?
I've read this book in school and we also spent an exorbitant amount of time analyzing it. My teacher taught us the religious stories it was supposed to represent. I love the comment about Hemingway throwing the whiskey bottle at the teacher. I have feeling Hemingway would have double fisted whisky bottles and rocketed toward my dear Christian teachers head. I've never been a huge Hemingway fan but his later works became fat and bloated like he had.
I liked the quote you put here. That adds something to it for me. I don't find it a "spoiler" because this is not the type of story where one needs to know what happened in the plot. This is a story that needs to be read, just to be appreciated for what it is.
Did you just re-read this? Or edit your old review from high school?
No, I found the quote somewhere a few years ago and it was too perfect, so I updated the review.
be nice god people are so annoying ¥¬§>#
I agree, Marcus. They ARE annoying. Especially when they lecture others to "be nice."
There aren't any spoilers in this review, jesus christ.
People get very butthurt about spoilers, I see! I haven't read this, but that quote doesn't really seem too spoiler-y.
madeline is cool be nice there are no spoilers
But do you agree with Hemingway's interpretation of his own work?
I think the insistence on assigning deeper meaning to this book says more about the readers than it does about Hemingway.
I've read interviews of some writers, when asked how they felt about certain interpretations of their work they were bewildered, admitting that mostly how their work gets interpreted can be radically different than what was intended.
Madeline wrote: "I think the insistence on assigning deeper meaning to this book says more about the readers than it does about Hemingway."Fair enough, though "insistence" is a strong word. I didn't try to find symbols, but couldn't help doing so. Maybe I imagined them.
Is that really by hemingway , I didn't know ... how amazing it is
Honestly, I've never done any serious fact-checking on the quote because I'm afraid I'll find out that he never really said that. But I hope he did.
It's widely cited as being by him, and I saw it listed somewhere as being in a letter. Then again, if you believe everything you see cited in many places on the net...
;)
Even if Hemingway did say it, would you honestly believe he didn't use symbolism?
I honestly believe he didn't intend for the story to be symbolic or allegorical when he was writing it. If readers want to interpret it that way, they're free to do so. Author intent and reader response are two different categories.
I don't think spoilers are cool,and neither are you're rules for friend requests btw.:(
There aren't any spoilers in this review (which, if we're gonna split hairs, is just a quote from the author) but okay. Thanks for the unsolicited feedback, I guess.
I agree that he may not have had a specific idea to point the symbolism towards... MAY NOT have. If, by chance, that's true, do you think it's possible he was completely aware of the symbolism he was using and maybe intending it?
I think that what Hemingway meant and what people think he meant are two completely different categories, and that neither one is more valid than the other.
I love this review and I have sent you a friend request!
can anyone plsss tel me whats that spoiler button bcause actually i am new to this kindle
madeline have u got my friend request???
Yes, I got it. I will not be accepting it. Please leave me alone.
can I plzzzz know that reason Madeline bcause i m just ur greatest fan and i wanna be ur friend so.plzz accept my request
madeline u didnt replied plzzz reeply
"Literature was a mistake." -Ernest Hemmingway, probably
Madeline pleeeaaaase be my friend. Oh whoops I got distracted. Thanks for sharing the quote. That's exactly how I felt about the book.
