Okay, so maybe I don’t have 20 questions, but after reading to page 109 of the book, it’s time to answer some questions. The first of the questions to catch my eye was:

Why does he not use better equipment or technology to fish?

I’m not sure on this, but I’m pretty sure by looking at the copyright dates of 1952 and and 1980, I’m not sure how much better the the technology COULD be. It seems that the old man is a commercial fisherman, and by using something such as..well, a fishing pole, it wouldn’t work very well. You can’t use multiple fishing poles at a time, because you only have two hands. I also think that by the things he says, he might enjoy the more “traditional” side of fishing. I think he enjoys knowing that the fish that he DOES catch, he did it entirely himself, with his own hands, not by any machinery or “technology.”

Another question that stood out was:

Why would he leave the fish aside the boat knowing sharks would be coming? Couldn’t he find some way to get it aboard?

Although the book doesn’t specifically state the size of the boat, the things the man says about the boat, it seems like it’s quite small. Then we have to take into account the description of the fish, and how huge the man makes it out to be, and I just think that the fish would have just been far too big to fit in the boat. Granted, he probably could’ve cut it up, cleaned it, etc. but then the fish probably would have spoiled before he got it back to market.

The story raises a lot of questions..and I’m sure there will be more to come..