Sandrock,+Kurtlyn

**Characters** The young boy/ Manolin- Was my favorite character is the book of how devoted he was to Santiago although no one in the town believed in Santiago to be a good fisherman. Manolin first rode on a boat with Santiago and loved it ever since. He was always devoted to Santiago no matter what happened. When Santiago had bad luck of not being able to catch any fish, the young boy still believed in him when the rest of the town didn't. Even the young bouys parent's would no longer let him ride with Santiago on his boat. The young boy even asked for people to help out the old man for food and things for his home. When the old man returned from his journey, the young boy as in tears just by looking at the old man's hands, and how beaten up he looked. Maolin stayed by the old man's side, no matter what his parents had to say. he is a brave, caring, young boy.
 * Entry 5:**

The Old Man/ Santiago- Santiago was the main character of this book. He was a fisherman who had the worst of bad luck. After not catching a fish in 84 days he was still determined to catch fish, something he loved to do. Throughout his fight with the Marlin he was always clever hoping the fish would jump out of the water so his lungs would fill with oxygen, letting the fish not swim as deep into the sea. I am no fisherman, but I thought that Satiago was a great fisherman although he hadn't caught a lot of fish, because he was always stratigizing and never gave up. When the dead Marlin starts to be eaten by sharks, Santiago did something I would have never imagined. He was apologizing the fish for making it fight for its life, to end up being eaten by sharks and never been seen or eaten by people who would have been in shock by the size of the fish. Although he may not have brought the fish back in good condition and proved something to the other fisherman, but he proved something to himself, that is he can do whatever he were to put his mind to.

Martin- Was a small character in the book that was a cafe owner in the town that Santiago lived in. Manolin went to Martin a lot asking for food or favors for the old fisherman. Martin would give the young boy food to bring to Satiago. Martin was very generous and a kind person for the small portion that he was mentioned in the book.

The marlin- Although he was not a person, this fish was a big part of the story. This fish was caught on the first day by Santiago and held up a good fight. They fought back and forth and the fish would even swim in cirlces and jumped out of the water. After all the fight the fish put up through, after days of the fight, the marlin is killed by Santiago. When the marlin is killed by the sharks, the old man feels awful and like he was dying in a way too.When the fish was brought back to land it measured to be 18 feet long.

**Summary** In this book the old man loves to fish and knows this young boy loves to as well, and looks up to this old man. The old man, Santiago, has not been a very successful fisherman lately and the other fishmen find him as a joke. Even the young boy's father does not trust or believe in Santiago. After over 80 days of not catching any fish, the old man and young boy decide they are going to go out and redeem themself by catching an amazing fish, of a genormous size. The man and boy take different boats. The old man catches a tuna fish that he feeds himself and also uses as bait. There was a bite on the old man's line and this fish would not give up for days. As the old man gets tired, dehydrated, and hands all torn up; this fish is pulling his boat all around the sea, getting the man more lost. The man would not give up. He sees the fish finally jump out of the water and it is the biggest fish he has ever seen. The fisherman finally kills the fish but what he does with it next, is worth reading to find out. **Rating** Halfway through the book I would have given it a 2 or 3 just because the conflisct was carried throughout the whole book and nothing really exciting ever really happened. Once I finished the book I had different feelings on it. I would rate this book a 4 because the characters I felt, were so powerful. They were all described and represented great caring people. Although Santiago wanted to catch the fish to prove himself to the fisherman, when he returns days later without the fish he caught, he was not upset. Both the old man and young boy can be looked up to by all readers. **Wiki Reflections** I like using wiki spaces although I am disappointed in myself of how I didn't always blog on time or read as many pages I wanted to. I am not sure if it was the book that was holding me back from blogging or just not reserving time for myself to blog. I think if we got even 15 minutes in a week to blog it would help me get a start on the blog and remember, "oh yeah, I need to finish that". But I also see this as a way for getting ready for college and working on time management that will be important throughout everyone's lives if they decide to go to college or not. It is also a way to look at other books I may be interested in reading in the future. **Entry 4:** This week I read till page 80 in __The Old Man and the Sea__. My prediction at the beginning of the book was very broad so what I thought would happen, did. The story so far has revolved almost all on this one trip and Santiago's determination to catch this fish. The main character, the old man, has been stranded on this boat in the middle of the sea determined to catch this fish to redeem the days he was unable to catch anything. He has been talking to himself and in the story it says that he is afraid he is going crazy but knows he is not. I think he starts talking to himself and imagining things because of the lack sleep, food and water. So Santiago has changed since the beginning of the book because of his surroundings and the conditions he is facing. This book has been hard for me to read just because it is not very interesting to me and I don't like how the setting of the book never changes and his conflict also remains the same. I love Ernest Hemingway's descripton on everything that is happening in the book though, I just wish more exciting things would happen. Entry 3: This week I have read to page 35 in __The Old Man on the Sea__. The quote I like the most out of what I have read so far, is found on page 25. The quote is said by the narrator because so far in the book, the young boy and Old Man do not say much unless it is about fishing. "He no longer dreamed of storms, nor women, nor of great occurances, nor of great fish, nor fights, nor contests of strength, nor of his wife. He only dreamed of places now and of the lions on the beach. They played like young cats in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy." I feel like this quote was signifigant because it is describing Santiago's (the old man) dreams the night before he goes out on his fishing adeventure. He used to dream of catching fish and special occurances and he is no longer dreaming of those. He is now dreaming of lions on the beach which make me think of youth with is a playful time. I feel like he is dreaming about youthful things because he spends his days with such a young boy, that is making Santiago in touch with his young playful side that he hasn't seen in years. **Entry 2:** So far I have read 10 pages in __The Old Man and the Sea__. The main character is this book is the old fisherman with the name of Santiago. The author really uses these first few pages to describe what he looks like. He is old and covered in wrinkles. He has sun spots all over his face from spending so much of his time outside fishing. The author describes his eyes to be the only young feature on him. So far the book is pretty slow how he is only describing this old fisherman. I hope that is becomes more exciting soon. I hope that the young boy's parents will let him fish with this old man. I love Ernest Hemingway's style of writing because I enjoy a lot of description and he does that very well. I an excited to see what else he has in store.

** Entry 1: ** I will be reading __The Old Man and the Sea__ by Ernest Hemingway. In this novel I think that it will be his story about him in the ocean and what he see and deals with. I have heard good things about this book and I am very excited to read it.