The Old Man and the Sea

The old man sets out for another day of fishing, but this day leaves his young companion behind. It is a fateful decision as the man hooks a marlin the likes of which he has dreamed of but never seen. The old man is a hardened veteran of the sea, who can read the moods of the deep blue as well as Corbett could sense the vagaries of the jungle around him. In the formidable marlin the old man thinks he’s met his match. The marlin is obviously physically stronger than him, but the man’s wily intelligence is what tips the scales in his favour.

The literal story of the man’s battle against the prize fish is a classic for its clean prose and terseness, but if it were just that, this book would not rest in the higher echelons of literature. Perhaps as a warning to the rest of humanity about the rise and fall of hope, the story charts the inevitable conclusion that befalls us all. You work hard, you become a seasoned campaigner, an expert who dreams for his one shot at the big leagues. It finally arrives and you are of course, all alone. All your support is stripped from you and you face the demon alone. It is tough going but eventually you conquer it and lash it to your main. Just when you have it beaten and are on the way home, the jackals arrive to rob you of your glory. You fend them off, using up precious energy reserves but there is nothing left by the time you make it back home. To add insult to injury, those outside your field cannot even comprehend what you’ve achieved and casually dismiss it as something else altogether. It’s enough to make you want to blow your brains out, which is exactly what Papa did.

What can I say? As an allegory, the ground here is thin, but you’ll be the richer for having traversed it.

ISBN: 978-0-684-80122-3