Old Man and the Sea

There were very few characters that were significant in the story, so it is hard to say which is my least favorite character in the story Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. I have said many, many times in several other blog posts about how much I liked the main character, the old man, but there was a small part in the story when he definitely could have qualified as my least favorite character. The part that I would use to support this would be right after the old man killed the marlin. At first, I felt happy for him because it had taken so much time and effort, and it was a goal he so badly wanted. Again, I liked him so I was proud for him. Afterwards though, the old man began to regret killing the great fish. The marlin was beginning to lose its beautiful colors, and eventually would attract hungry predators. It made me upset at the old man when he talked about how it was a mistake that he killed the marlin. I thought, "Why on earth would you waste so much time and energy on something if you had even the slightest doubt that you would fully appreciate it?" It made no sense to me that he would risk his fragile life for a goal he had not thought all the way through. Maybe if he had taken the time to think about the consequences of killing it, he would have let the fish go, or at least felt better about killing it. He told the thing the entire time that he planned on killing and selling it! Oh well, I guess in some ways I understand where he was coming from. He had such an attachment to the fish, calling it a brother. In my opinion, he should have been more prepared mentally and emotionally for after he finally caught and killed the marlin. It was a moment of ignorance.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995.