Ernest Hemingway
Ed. Mondadori
pp. 135
There are books that have been written to be read once and then forgotten on the shelf of a bookcase, others have been written to be used, from time to time, to find useful information. Finally, a small part, were written to be immortal, to be read every summer and laid back on the shelf already knowing that a year passes soon. Needless to say, as far as I'm concerned, "The old man and the sea" belongs to the latter category.
I do not remember when I read it for the first time, maybe a decade ago, in any case since then I have reread it every time I passed it by the hands.
Last night, rummaging through my books looking for something to read, I found "the old man and the sea" and there was no need to go further.
An old fisherman, a boy who takes care of it as he can, the sea and the struggle for life between man and nature, these are the ingredients of one of the most beautiful novels ever written.
With his story, Hemingway succeeded in making his characters live. The huge marlin, the sharks, the tuna, the same fishing line, speak to us through the words and thoughts of old Santiago.
Eighty-five days of bad luck and then, finally, the adventure of life, the struggle between an old fisherman and his prey, a marlin of five and a half meters in length. Fight that takes place in the Gulf, in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Havana, between the immense depths of the sea.
The old man is not afraid of the sea, he is his element and he respects it, as he respects all creatures, even and above all those who are forced to kill to live (and sometimes to survive!).
Perhaps he does not appreciate too much the sharks, who after the fight take away his prey.
The old fisherman won his battle, perhaps the last one. Returning to the harbor, however, reacquires the respect of all the young fishermen that observing what remains of the great fish can only imagine the struggle that took place in the sea.
The young Manolin returns to assist the old man, aware that he still has much to learn ...
A wonderful book to which my few lines do not certainly make the right merit.
Hemingway with his "The old man and the sea" left us an indelible memory of himself.
In reading you, a thought also goes to you, made immortal by your old man and his prey, the marlin.
Alessandro Rugolo
