My Views on The Old Man And The Sea - 'The I_E_L_ST_C Text'

The old man and the sea, by Ernest Hemingway is, I think, based on the idea that the defeat lies not in losing but in quitting. What you need for being victorious is passion for your goal. The old man is passionate about his profession, which is, fishing. Hence, the more he suffers the more he loves. The passion never lets you lose. I am bemused because of one thought in my mind and that is “What makes the old man so much passionate about his profession?”

The answers may be various. One may say that it is the need to prove his self. Though people around him have contradictory opinions about his ability, as some doubts him and some are keen to learn from him, he has perfect idea about his abilities. Though experienced, he, having lost his marlin to the sharks admits, "I WENT TOO FAR." Hence, he analyses his error which he will correct as he agrees to the boys proposal to let him sail with him. Having experienced the hard blow at the hands of Sharks, of course without weapons and being alone, his such readily made agreement shows that his spirit if not broken than is juddered.

My answer to the question that I have raised above will be, “It is out of his sheer need to make his living that the old man puts his life at stake and the same he will do till the last gasp of his life.” To make my point clear, I would like to draw attention to the poverty stricken condition of this old man. He is dependent on the boy, who is actually not his, for his food and clothing. Besides, with his wife dead, he has no one to look after himself. What one may do if not put one’s life at stake? What would the old man have done if he would have enough savings to spend in the latter part of his life? Do you think he would go on fishing the same way? If yes, then why?

What is Literature?

However loosely employed, the word literature commonly carries with it, alike in the language of criticism and in that of everyday intercourse, a clear suggestion of delimitation. To me Literature is a piece of writing which, when A COMMON READER reads he feel he also wanted to write the same or would have written the same, if he would have been there at author’s place but he cannot until the author - THE CREATIVE GENIUS, gives an outlet to those sort of COMMON EXPERIENCES SHARED BY THE HUMANITY. To quote W.H. Hudson from his book ‘An Introduction to the Study of English Literature’,

“Literature is composed of those books, and of those books only, which… by reason of their subject-matter and their mode of treating it … are vital record of what men have seen in life, what they have experienced of it, what they have thought and felt about those aspects of it which have the most immediate and enduring interest for all of us.”(Page No - 10)

Hence, Literature is fundamentally an expression of life through the medium of language.

Has Placement or has it NOT its role in defining the place of an Institution?

               

            ‘PLACEMENT’, the word itself is very skeptical. Loosely defined it is a process which offers a well-secure place in the organization, both industrial as well as social. The multinational companies do offer placement in their organizations to the students of different institutes. Such is the scenario that, the more this sort of placement is offered, the more the institute earns reputation. There is a reason behind that. In the era where people give priority to professional courses, where people generally learn to earn placement gives a better opportunity to the deserving candidate to prove himself. However I agree to the point that only the reputed institutes, the institutes which produce the best of the candidates, are encamped with such placement interviews. Hence, I do believe that placement, if it is not the only, then it is one of the standards to judge the institute.

Hi this is Maulik Bhatt... and I am here to share my memories... kyonki...baate bhul jati hain yaadein yaad aati hai.....