Old Man and the Sea

In the novel Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, there are many causes, losses, and gains of the plot. The story is about an old man who is a fisherman for a living, but has not had any luck lately. He is friends with a little boy who helps him very much, not only with fishing but also by making sure the old man is taken care of. On one particular day of fishing, the old man does not take the little boy. His parents do not like when he goes fishing with the old man, and he respects that. As he is fishing, something catches on one of his lines and starts pulling him out to sea. The very patient and kind old man thinks of this magnificent fish as a brother, but expects to kill him. After days of struggling, he finally kills the great marlin. It takes him a long time to get back to shore, and when he gets there the fish is only a skeleton. The old man was faced with numerous sharks on the way home. One cause of the plot could be the old man's lack of luck. If he had caught more fish before, he would not have gone out as far as he did to desperately catch some. The old man was also a very kind person; his heart, personality, and skill lead him to respect the great marlin instead of thinking of it as a money making prize. This could be a reason why the marlin kept pulling him out to sea; he did not feel threatened. In my opinion, there were more losses than gains. The old man lost strength while battling the fish, as well as the sharks. He also lost his great trophy fish when the sharks swarmed and ate it. The only things the old man gained were the experience and the respect from other fishermen when they saw the marlin's skeleton attached to his boat.

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