Personally, I feel that the most compelling aspect of this wonderful novel is the struggle inherent within the old man's task. It's a labor for something he not only wants but needs. It's an uphill climb against a gradient that only gets steeper. He succeeds, but only to lose the prize in the end.

Yet, at the end of it all, he is not defeated. He is ready to sleep, to wake, and to do it all again.

Call it the triumph of the human spirit when pitted against all odds.

I first read this book in the fourth grade, after one of my parents left it laying around the living room. I finished it within three hours.

Ever since, I've made it a point to pick it up at least once a year. I'm now 24 years old. And I still find it to be an absolutely captivating novel.

-J.

However, "The Old Man and the Sea" is one of Hemingway's finest novels, fully deserving of the Nobel Prize. The story is simple and may seem boring to some, but the beauty of the old man's struggle with the marlin is heartbreaking and encouraging at the same time. Hopelessness and full awareness of defeat are contrasted with perseverance, determination, and an unwillingness to be destroyed. "The Old Man and the Sea" brings home all of mankind's failures and all of mankind's successes in every sentence.

I can't recommend this book more highly. Read it and stand in awe, both at Hemingway's astonishing command over the English language and at the dignity he brings to the failed in mankind. Brilliant in every sense of the word.

The author uses his characters in a unique way to express a deeper meaning. Such as, how Santiago and the marlin symbolize each other. The marlin symbolizes Santiago in his will and determination to never give up. The marlin fights through hunger, pain, and his stubbornness to not let go without a fight, which is not unlike Santiago. Yet another symbol is the vulnerability between the attacking sharks and Santiago. Santiago is vulnerable to the harassing fisherman and the sharks are vulnerable to Santiago's beatings. Unlike many authors these days, this book doesn't give you the literal meaning. Instead, Hemmingway makes the reader think and react to the story. This in turn, makes it exciting.
I would defiantly recommend this book to anyone that wants to read a heartfelt adventure of an old man against his luck. Hemmingway's style adds to the excitement and drama of this epic tale, by using deep meanings and an unusual plot.