The Old Man and The Sea - Ernest Hemingway & Amaram

A couple of years before my sister gifted me this book on my Birthday. Read it, unmoved, in one sitting - as it was a slim novella of 127 pages. But, yes, did wonder - what was in it for being cited by the Nobel Committee as contributing to their awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature to Ernest Hemingway in 1954 and for being awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, in 1953?

At this juncture, cannot get this book out of my head. Simple yet profound. At the outset it is a tale of an old Cuban fisherman Santigao who catches an enormous fish, only to lose it. Hemingway's novella shows how death can invigorate life, how killing and death can bring a man to an understanding of his own mortality -- and his own power to overcome it. The old man dreams his usual dream of lions at play on the beaches of Africa.

Some thoughts:

“But man is not made for defeat," he said. "A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”

“Now is no time to think of what you do not have.
Think of what you can do with that there is”

"And what beat you, the thought"

With 84 days of no success finally Santiago catches a big fist who carries him into the sea. As Santiago sails on with the fish, the marlin’s blood leaves a trail in the water and attracts sharks. Santiago’s continued fight against the scavengers is useless. They devour the marlin’s precious meat, leaving only skeleton, head, and tail. Santiago chastises himself for going “out too far,” and for sacrificing his great and worthy opponent. He arrives home before daybreak, stumbles back to his shack, and sleeps very deeply.

This thought, did not before - but today takes me to the move Amaram. Which is also a story of a fisherman Achootty - but has another story line underneath, which was sentimental and makes you cry. With big dreams and big sacrifice for daughter, who marries a local fisherman, Achooty is misunderstood and doubted to have killed his son-in-law. He brings his SIL back and Achootty takes his boat and ventures into the sea, saying that is the only thing which has loved him unconditionally.