Introduction
Every work is a human activity which should be appreciated and paid accordingly; though it is necessary to differentiate between heavy industry and painting, people can find some occupation that would meet their requirements in terms of benefits, wages, social package, working hours, and other aspects that are considered important for employees. However, some people that are limited in choice of profession with a view to the location and territory have to be engaged in activities that do not seem to bring much money or inspiration. In this case, only enthusiasm helps to overcome certain difficulties.
The Old Man and a Tenacious Fish
Experience and luck can be considered an integral part of the work as it appears in practice because a person without experience should be very lucky to attain success, though a person with experience and with no trace of luck does not seem to be successful in any occupation he/she chooses. The main character of Hemingway’s book The Old Man and the Sea is a person with great experience in life and in his work but he does not seem to be lucky; this is where he appears to be “…salao, which is the worst form of luck …” (Hemingway 5). The old man is not unlucky, though he believes himself to be, he lacks new ideas and some inspiration.
Hard work was always considered a good expression of diligence, endeavor, effort, and persistence. The old man is a hard-working person who knows what he wants from life but the only desire after forty days of not catching a proper fish to be sold is to catch a fish that would be the solution to all his problems. As the old man believed, “Eighty-five is a lucky number” (Hemingway 6) and the eighty-fifth day would bring him some profit in terms of fish that can be big and marketable enough to not make the old man worry about the food or clothes.
The old man happened to be really lucky on the eighty-fifth day, but the fortune abandoned him when the victory was close and tangible. Though sharks can be considered the cruelest wild beasts of the water territory, the old man did not feel either fear or anxiety when these predators started eating the marlin the old man has caught with such effort. The only thing that made the old man nervous was that the fish was unsuitable for the market anymore.
The old man considered himself to be unlucky, though he believed in faith being favorable to him till the last moment of the severe fight for a marlin. He appeared “… definitely and finally salao” (Hemingway 5) in the very beginning of the story; the old man is described sleeping in his bed and dreaming of wild lions and sand of the African beaches and the time when he was young (Hemingway 65). He has shown his experience and no one could ever doubt the old man’s luck.
Conclusion
A person can consider himself/herself to be what he/she wants to be; as a rule, this position comes true if a person believes in it. When the old man considered himself to be unlucky, the fortune abandoned him and he had to spend eighty-four days without any trace of hope to be successful and to catch a marketable fish. At the moment when the old man had left his idea of being unlucky, the luck returned to him.
Work Cited
Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Hueber Verlag, 1995