Jennifer+Yang's+Book+Report

Climax:** Robert Jordan and the guerrilla band blow up the bridge.
 * Book Report 1**
 * a. identify climax, major conflict, resolution or denoument, what type of plot (see page of literary terms)
 * Major Conflict:** Robert Jordan and Pablo struggle for authority over the small band of guerrillas as they prepare to blow up a bridge with their limited resources and manpower.
 * Resolution:** Four people, including Robert Jordan, die or are fatally wounded. Pablo leads the others away, presumably to safety into the mountains.
 * Type of Plot: Chronological**


 * b. comment about setting:** (Time) Three days, May 1937. (Place) The Guadarrama mountain range in Spain.

Robert Jordan:** He is pragmatic, very good at what he does, and never lets his emotions interfere with his work. He contemplates about his role within the war and within the larger world. Throughout the story, he gradually learns to integrate his rational, thinking side with his intuitive, feeling side.
 * c. identify one major symbol and one minor.
 * Primitivo** - He is an old guerrilla fighter. Despite his age, Primitivo has not learned the cynicism needed for survival in the war.

Rafael is a gypsy member of the guerrilla band. Frequently described as well-meaning but “worthless,” Rafael proves his worthlessness by leaving his lookout post at a crucial moment. Anselmo is an old, trustworthy guerrilla fighter. Anselmo seems to represent all that is good about Spaniards. He follows directions, and stays where he is told. He likes to hunt but has not developed a taste for the kill and hates killing people. Rafael is a foil for the trustworthy Anselmo, who does not leave his post on the previous night despite the cold and the snow. Rafael has few loyalties and does not believe in political causes.
 * d. discuss two characters. Label as round or flat, dynamic or static. Are they archetypal or foils?**

Practical men--Robert Jordan and Pilar--failed to stop the more idealistic Primitivo, Primitivo would go to support El Sordo as he realizes that El Sordo’s hilltop has been attacked. This is an important part because it shows how one decides the value of a human life. Many characters die in the novel and there are lots of section what can justify killing a person. For example, Anselmo and Pablo represent two extremes with regard to this question. Anselmo hates killing people in all circumstances, although he will do so if he must. Pablo, on the other hand, accepts killing as a part of his life and ultimately demonstrates that he is willing to kill his own men just to take their horses. Robert Jordan’s position about killing falls somewhere between Anselmo’s and Pablo’s positions. Although Robert Jordan doesn’t like to think about killing, he has killed many people in the line of duty. His personal struggle with this question ends on a note of compromise. Although war can’t fully absolve him of guilt, and he has “no right to forget any of it,” Robert Jordan knows both that he must kill people as part of his duties in the war, and that dwelling on his guilt during wartime is not productive. This theme becomes even more complicated as the characters admit to experiencing a rush of excitement in killing. Hemingway does not take a clear stance but it throws an important question how human's life should be valued.
 * e. Open to the exact middle. What page? Write one paragraph about how this one page relates thematically, symbolically, or other (just not all plot) to the rest of the book.**

The epigraph is an important part of the story. It sets the mood, and presents a theme. It says that no person stands alone—“No man is an island, entire of itself”—because everyone belongs to a community. As a result, the death of any human diminishes because he is a part of mankind. The writer of the epigraph admonishes us not to ask who has died when we hear a funeral bell toll, for it tolls for everyone in the human race.
 * f. Tell me one thing other that really only someone who has read the book will get.**

Climax: The marlin circles the skiff while Santiago slowly reels him in. Santiago nearly passes out from exhaustion but gathers enough strength to harpoon the marlin through the heart. Major Conflict: For three days, Santiago struggles against the greatest fish of his long career. Resolution: Santiago arrives home toting only the fish’s skeletal carcass. The village fishermen respect their formerly ridiculed peer, and Manolin pledges to return to fishing with Santiago. Santiago falls into a deep sleep and dreams of lions. It is a chronological plot.
 * Book Report** 2
 * a. identify climax, major conflict, resolution or denoument, what type of plot (see page of literary terms)**

Place: A small fishing village near Havana, Cuba; the waters of the Gulf of Mexico Time: Late 1940 s
 * b. comment about setting:**

The marlin and the shovel-nosed sharks
 * c. identify one major symbol and one minor.**

Santiago - Santiago is a Cuban fisherman who has had an extended run of bad luck. Despite his expertise, he has been unable to catch a fish for eighty-four days. He is humble, yet exhibits a justified pride in his abilities. His knowledge of the sea and its creatures, and of his craft, is unparalleled and helps him preserve a sense of hope regardless of circumstance. Throughout his life, Santiago has been presented with contests to test his strength and endurance. (round dynamic Character) Manolin - Manolin is Santiago’s apprentice and devoted attendant. Due to Santiago’s recent bad luck, Manolin’s parents have forced the boy to go out on a different fishing boat. Manolin, however, still cares deeply for the old man, to whom he continues to look as a mentor. His love for Santiago is unmistakable as the two discuss baseball and as the young boy recruits help from villagers to improve the old man’s impoverished conditions. (flat, static Character)
 * d. discuss two characters. Label as round or flat, dynamic or static. Are they archetypal or foils?**

As his struggle intensifies, Santiago begins to seem more and more Christ-like: through his pain and suffering, he will transcend from a failed fisherman. It is similar to Jesus Christ’s life and death as the cuts on the old man’s hands from the fishing line evokes that of Christ, who spent forty days alone in the wilderness. Having taken his boat out on the ocean farther than any other fisherman has ever gone, Santiago is beyond even the fringes of society.
 * e. Open to the exact middle. What page? Write one paragraph about how this one page relates thematically, symbolically, or other (just not all plot) to the rest of the book.**

Hemingway purposefully connects Santiago to Christ. For example, when the sharks arrive, Hemingway portrays the old man as a crucified martyr, saying that he makes a noise similar to that of a man having nails driven through his hands.
 * f. Tell me one thing other that really only someone who has read the book will get.**