Techniques-Old Man and the Sea

The author uses the technique of mystery and suspense in the book The Old Man and the Sea. Mystery throughout the book really kept me into reading the book. He would use mystery while waiting for the huge fish he caught to come up and get caught. The old man says, "Fish, he said, I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends... Let us hope so, he thought" (Hemingway 54). Hemingway really led readers into the thought of, is he going to catch the fish and have enough energy to make it back, or will he ever get the fish and if not will he live. Basically that is how I was feeling the whole time I was reading this book. Hemingway does a really nice job with leading us with mystery. Another technique he used was suspense. Whenever the sharks would be close he would use adjectives on how the shark looked and how big it was and how it kept coming closer and closer. He also used suspense when he was out catching the fish. In this part of the book, "He woke up with the jerk of his right hand fist coming up against his face and the line burning out through his right hand. He had no feeling of his left hand but he braked all he could with his right and the line rushed out", (Hemingway 82), this shows how Hemingway kept people with reading this book. He made it exciting. The old man was asleep and then all of a sudden the mood swings and the fish starts to jerk at the line and the old man has to hurry in order to keep the fish. I find that suspense and mystery are really the kind of books that keep me interested in a book. These are some of the techniques that Hemingway added in order to keep the book interesting to readers and keep the story effective.

Bibliography

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1996. Print.