The Book - a Person’s Friend

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961):
He was an American writer, an excellent novelist and a master of short forms. He was born in Oak Park in Illinois. He started his career as a journalist in the Kansas City Star newspaper. During the First World War he was sent to Europe with an American ambulance unit. He was seriously wounded (zranený) on the Italian front and had returned to the USA. In 1921 he went to France as a foreign correspondent. There he met other American writers (Gertrude Stein) and began his serious writing career. He was a member of so called “lost generation”, a group of writers who expressed their feelings and opinions on life, they lost faith in God, attachment to any region, did not belong anywhere, especially the loss of illusions and creative aims after World War I. Hemingway spent the post-war years writing books and travelling to gain materials for his future works through his experiences.

He was also a war correspondent during the Spanish Civil War and World War II. He was married for four times. Hemingway received the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954 for the novel The Old man and the Sea. He spent his last years in Cuba but after Fidel Castro’s revolution he decided to leave for the USA. He bought a house in Ketchum, Idaho, and tried to live his life and work to as before. He succeeded for a while but then in a deep depression, unable to cope with his problems he committed suicide. He took his life with a shotgun. His works were based on his experiences in World Wars I, II and in Spanish Civil War. His famous works are The Green Hills of Africa, The Sun also raises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bells tools, The Old Man and the Sea.

The Old Man and the Sea (novel):
The main character of the story is the old Cuban fisherman Santiago. Although he is very old and his face and body show the signs of aging, inside he is young and alive that is reflected in his eyes. His only company is a boy called Manolin that adores (zbožňovať) Santiago. The story begins by explaining that Santiago has gone 84 days without catching a fish. Manolin has been forbidden by his parents to sail with the old man and been ordered to fish with more successful fishermen. He takes care of Santiago and he tries to encourage the old man. Santiago is convinced that he is just going through an unlucky time and his luck will return. He also has a special relationship with the sea. He goes out too far into the ocean much further than usual because he wants to succeed. He catches an enormous marlin, bigger than he has ever seen or heard of. He is alone and he has to fight with the marlin. It is not just a fight with fish but also a battle with himself.

Finally he catches the fish but it doesn’t fit into his boat so he ties it to the side of his boat. This all takes many hours and much of Santiago’s power. Later he was attacked by sharks which were attracted by the blood of the marlin. Santiago tries to kill them to save his fish. There were too many sharks and they tears big pieces of the marlin. By the time he got back to the dock where he found out, that sharks left only a skeleton of big fish. Santiago went back to his hut (chatrč) and collapses on his bed. The next morning, a crowd of amazed fishermen gathers the skeleton of the fish. Manolin, who has been worried at the old man’s absence, helped Santiago with his needs and wounds. When the old man awakes, he and Manolin agree to fish together again. Santiago tells Manolin that 'A man can be destroyed but not defeated'. It is a story about the power of human being, about friendship, hope and endurance (vytrvalosť).