Author's values, The Old Man and the Sea

In the book 'The Old Man and the Sea', the author reveals his values through some of the main characters in the book. He portrayed the old man as patient, kind, hard working and optimistic. There are many times in the book where the old man shows these qualities, which reveals that the author thinks that these qualities are very important to him. The old man shows patience when he is fishing. He went out to sea for eighty four days in a row without catching a single fish. He was very persistent and never gave up. He always believed that his big catch would come the next day, showing a lot of patience (Hemingway 9).

Another characteristic that the author shows he values is kindness. He shows this through the old man when the boy leaves him. After forty days of going out to sea with the old man without a single catch, the boys family decides that the old man is officially "salao", meaning that he is the worst form of unlucky. The young boys family forces him to go to a more lucky ship. The old man shows kindness in this situation because he does not become upset with the boy at all. He is very understanding of the situation (Hemingway 9).

A third characteristic that the old man portrays in this book is that he is very hardworking. He wakes up every morning very early to go out to sea and fish. Every morning he had to do hard work to prepare his boat for the day. He doesn't complain about it, and he always stayed positive even when he had no success.

The last characteristic that the author values is optimism. He showed this in the way that the old man would never give up hope. After going out to sea for eighty four days with out success, the old man never lost hope. Every one he knew had lost faith in him and was calling him unlucky, but he did not let it get to him. He always ignored them and stayed focus. After a day with no luck, he would tell himself that tomorrow would be the day. He kept going out everyday with a good attitude.

In 'The Old Man and the Sea' the author makes the old man a role model of the young boy. I think by doing this he is showing that the old man is someone who should be looked up to and that the values and traits of the old man are some that the author also values.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. Print.