I think that an author can be influenced and inspired by many people. Ernest Hemingway talks about Joe DiMaggio on many occasions and i believe that this baseball player had some effect on this author. I also think that the sinking of the Titanic could have related to him when he was writing this story. When that ship was sinking those people did everything they could do to survive and be victorious over Death and some of them were. Santiago is also fighting a great force and he is doing it all by himself. He has to hunt and use all of his experience from over the years to ensure that he makes it back to the shore or port safely. The idea of courage most likely inspired Ernest also. All of the characters in this book could be considered courageous for some reason. Santiago is courageous for fighting the bearing sea alone and catching a mammoth of a marlin(Hemingway, 64). The fish does all he can to escape the clench that Santiago has on him and he does not give up until he can physically keep fighting. Even the boy is courageous when he thinks for himself and goes behind his parents to stop fishing with the more prosperous boat and to return to fish with the old man. Companionship was also important to him. As an author you would probably have to spend a lot of time by yourself to think about what you are saying. I do not know for sure but it is possible he had only a few close friends and that is how it is for Santiago. The boy is literally the old man's only friend that the reader knows of. All of the other villagers are not kind to him because they think he is a joke and nothing but a beggar.
An author of novels can not just think of stories from his imagination. They must have some kind of inspiration for what they are writing and we can never know where it comes from but they may pick things close to them, their childhood, past memories, or even things they have just seen walking on the street one day.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.
No comments:
Post a Comment