Old Man and the Sea Question 7

Question seven asks "What techniques does the author use to engage the audience and make the story effective?". The book I will be answering the question from is the Old Man and the Sea. The author Ernest Hemingway had many ways of catching the readers attention through outlets such as suspense, symbolism, and lastly repetition. Hemingway used suspense specifically when Santiago, old man, was on the boat. He led the readers to keeping wanting to read more because of the intense things that kept happening and making you ask yourself many questions. When Santiago caught the fish I read on wondering if he is going to lose it or maybe be ripped off the boat? When he was fighting off the shark I read on asking myself is the sharks were going to end up eating him or was he just going to give up of fighting them off.(Hemingway) Hemingway used symbolism in many ways but the one that engaged me, as the reader, most was the symbolism of the fish. The fish symbolized Santiago's luck and recognition. When Santiago had the fish he regained his luck that he had supposedly lost. He also gained his recognition as a asset to the village and as a fisherman. Lastly Hemingway used many types of repetition throughout the book. These include the story of the lions on the beach, DiMaggio/baseball, and purple lavender color of fish.(Hemingway) Repeating these stories or phrases made everything flow and kept you reading on and connecting everything. These techniques worked very well for Hemingway because he was a good enough writer to use suspense, symbolism, and repetition right and very well. Having different ways to engage a reader is usually the only way to keep someone reading a book. I know that if I read a book and about one fourth the way through I already lost interest I would return it. If there isn't anything to keep the reader engaged, then the book loses any spark. Even if the story line is amazing, the author has to keep the reader engaged. As I explained, Hemingway did and fantastic job with this in Old Man and the Sea!

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.