Upon reading Ernest Hemingway’s novel, The Old Man and the Sea, I questioned Hemingway’s title choice. “The Old Man and the Sea” seems like it is too plain. Personally, I tend to judge a book by the title, and decide if I am going to read it or not. So I personally would not have read The Old Man and the Sea if I had had the choice. The title seems to be kind of boring. It is very simple, which I could appreciate if the title had given a little more away. But you really do not know with The Old Man and the Sea. I guess, personally, I like to know about the book from its title sooner rather than later. I think The Old Man and the Sea is a perfect title, though. Now that I have read the novel, the title seems perfect. I said earlier I would have liked the title to give a little more away, but now that seems a little ridiculous considering I was talking about simple titles. Because I guess simple titles really never give too much away. That is why they are simple. The Old Man and the Sea could be interpreted into a lot of different things. When I first read the title, I thought it was just going to be about an old guy who got stranded out at sea or something along those lines. Some of the other people who read the title could have interpreted it an entirely different way. Maybe someone thought it was about a successful fisherman who spent all his time out at sea. Or it could have been a sailor; there are just so many possibilities. I guess that is probably what an author would want, though. The title gives you something to imagine. Sometimes after reading a story it is everything you imagined, and sometimes it is nothing like you thought. Overall, I guess that is the whole point. Ernest Hemingway’s title was very simple, but it gave you an opportunity to let your imagination run free.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.
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