Perspective, The Old Man and the Sea

The book 'The Old Man and the Sea' is written in a third person perspective. This perspective is one where the story is told by an outside narrator. By using a third person point of view to write this book, the author, Ernest Hemingway, is able to show us what all the characters are feeling. The third person perspective does not limit the story to being told by just one of the characters like other perspectives do. Ernest Hemingway uses this point of view to help readers understand the story better. It helps us understand how the old man was feeling when he had finally caught his fish. It helped us understand his frustration when he couldn't lift the fish into the boat because he was alone and he wasn't strong enough to do it without the boy there. This point of view did not limit us to only knowing the old mans thoughts, though. It also helped us to see how the boy felt when he was no longer allowed to go out and fish with the old man. His family forbid him from fishing with the old man because they believed he was unlucky. The boy did not want to stop fishing with the old man, because he wanted to continue helping him and learning from him. The boy felt very bad about leaving the old man, but the old man was understanding about the situation. The author's use of third person point of view was helpful in this part of the book because it showed us how both characters were feeling.

I think that the author made a good choice for the perspective of this book, because with the third person perspective, the reader is not influenced by one character. Instead they read the story from an unbiased point of view. The narrator of the story helped me to better understand the character's thoughts and feelings of the situation and also gave me a better understanding of the story.

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