Question # 6:      Read the following extracts from your novel (The old man and the sea) and answer the questions given at the end.

Questions:

     i.        “I will show what a man can do and what a man can endure.”

Hemingway, the novelist, is referring to one of the old man’s quality here what is the quality?

   ii.        “The old man was wet him with sweat and tired deep into his bones.”

The old man was deeply tired, but still did not give up. Explain how he had to bear pain?

Answer: i)  In this extract, the novelist is (data copied from vusolutions.com) referring to the old man’s quality of ‘endurance’. It is his power to face the sufferings. He wants to win his goal. He wants to hunt and kill the giant fish, the Marlin. He has already hooked this big fish.

          The sight of the big fish, Marlin, is a symbol of his stimulus to move towards his goal. The old man says:

                   ‘Let him (Marlin) think I am more man than I am and I will be.’

Santiago compares himself with the huge fish, Marlin, when he says:

                   ‘I will show him (Marlin) what a man can do and what a man endures.’

          It is the quality of endurance, resolution or determination. He wants to do something for the achievement of his goal. Killing the Marlin shows of symbolizes the old man’s goal in life. It is a goal that is far off and the way leading to it is full of hardships and dangers. Santiago’s voyage towards his goal causes him much pain.

ii)      In this extract, the novelist tells us that the old man was wet with sweat. He was dead tired. He had his prolonged adventure with the big fish, marlin. He had hunted it. He lashed it along one side of his skiff for his return voyage towards the sea shore.

          In the meantime, the sharks arrived there. (data copied from vusolutions.com) The old man already expected them. The sharks came to attach the dead fish one after the other and then in groups they snatched away the flesh of the fish from the old man. It is here the novelist tells us that the old man was already wet with sweat and was dead tired. But he fought a heroic fight with the sharks. The old man’s hands were badly cramped. But he did not yield to the sharks. He faced all the pain heroically. He remained undefeated despite his outward defeat by the sharks. His victory over the sharks was no doubt a moral victory.

Question # 7:      Is to retain a thing more difficult in the American Society than to obtain the same? Explain.

Answer:     The novel ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ highlights Santiago’s quest for a big fish. He wins the battle against the giant fish, Marlin. He is gifted with courage and strong will power. He addresses the big fish, Marlin as:

                   ‘You are killing me fish. But you have a right too. Never have I seen a greater, or more beautiful, or a calmer or nobler thing than you, brother. Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who.’

          It is now evident that it has become difficult for the old man to prolong and retain his big fish with him. The sharks prove to be more terrible enemies for him than the marlin. In his struggle with the marlin, the old man comes out victorious. But in fight with the sharks to save (data copied from vusolutions.com) the Marlin from them Santiago suffers a defeat. The sharks attach the Marlin time and again. Ultimately they snatch away from the poor old man all the flesh of the Marlin.

          As Santiago is a member of American Society, he fails completely to retain the Marlin. No doubt the Marlin was obtained after a prolonged and painful struggle. The author is fully justified in concluding that it is more difficult to retain a thing than to obtain it.