TOMATS - Tone

The Old Man and the Sea s definitely not know for its witty and lighthearted humor.  Its not carefree or nonchalant.  But, if it is not these things, the what kind of tone could it be giving off.  The answer to that may take some looking into and deep reading between the lines of this ever so short novella.  Taking no time at all to read (just a few short hours), the overall tone could be overlooked.  This could be put into comparison with text messaging.  When you receive your next text message, look into it and see if you can not depict the actual tone in the person's voice.  Most likely, you have come to figure out that you really simply do not know for sure.  You could have a hunch if heavy sarcasm was used, but how would you know if you didn't actually hear them speaking?  Oh, this is the great mystery of writing itself! How do you understand feelings and tone of words when read quickly?  The question should not be how, but can you. And the answer to this is, no you cannot understand tone when reading too fast and your mind is moving at a thousand miles an hour, for most normal, average human beings that is.  To solve this, one may need to surely slow down and take time to sink in what they are reading.  Then they would know that The Old Man and the Sea has a very serious tone.  Hemingway thought highly of his character Santiago and took great pride in him.   His journey was important and he was dedicated to the capturing of the fish for his pride and survival. The old man was on a mission and was in very dire conditions.  So, the tone was portrayed as serious rather than light and humorous because I think Hemingway wanted the readers to see the true values within his characters.  With this tone, it is easier to catch the raw emotions that are not hidden over a mask of humor.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.