Aristotelian Analysis continued and complete.

1. Does the narrative unfold the complications leading up to the tragic conclusions. Yes, on several occasions.
2. Does the narrative provide astonishment? Yes, on several occasions.  
3. Does the character have a respected social standing? No
4. Does the tragic character appear better than average? Yes both morally and physically.
5. Does the tragic character (or any character involved) behave appropriately according to their station using words and actions matching their situation, morality, motives, psychological profile and accounting for the addressees (if any)? Yes in all respects.
6. Does everything in narrative proceed according to reasoning with respect to the characters actions (when thinking straight) and based on the morality, psychology and situation. Yes
7. Does the character dialogue  utilize reasoning when speaking and making points, using proofs and refutation or reasoning that results in the production of emotions in the other characters. Yes 
8. Does the narrative use clear diction? Yes
9. Is the diction elegant/poetic? No

The Poetical Analysis Continued

Alright, now lets look at the next 10 things the Poetics says must be present in a work.

1. Does this complex plot contain the reversal, the recognition or both? Yes it contains both; the good fortune of catching the fish catch is reversed into a loss and the old man recognizes his pride has cost him his good fortune.
2. Does the plot contain suffering? Yes; both physical and psychological.
3. Is the Reversal probabilistic? Mostly with the exception of the complete consumption of the marlin by the sharks but the reader is likely to allow for this unlikely situation since it makes the story more tragic when the entire Marlin is devoured and the reader reasons the man might have been too exhausted to think or pull the partially devoured fish into the boat once its weight had diminished. 
4. Is the reversal and recognition caused by character error? Yes
5. Is the character error due to ignorance or poor judgement?  Yes
6. Is the character less than perfectly good or evil? Yes
7. Is the reversal a first rate or second rate reversal? It's first rate; moving from good to bad fortune.
8. Is the recognition a first rate recognition? Yes; the old man realizes his own ignorance and it occurs under probable circumstances without another character to point it out or the recollection of a memory or the inference of something or through the use of tokens. 
9. Does the reversal and recognition instill fear and pity in the reader? Yes; it comes from both plot and spectacle.
10. Does the narrative contain all four kinds of tragedy? Yes; the simple, the complex, the suffering and character tragedy.

So now lets look at The Old Man and the Sea and see how close it comes to matching the Aristotelian ideal Tragedy.

According to the Poetics, the most important component in Tragedy is Plot. The majority of the Poetics is devoted to plot.

Lets look at the first 10 things the Poetics says must be present in a work as it pertains to plot and how this novel stacks up to this standard.

The Yes/No Test:

1. Is the plot of  a  length that can be easily held in memory? Yes
2. Does the plot focus on one single kind of event and action within a small stretch of time? Yes
3. Do all scenes contribute to the whole? Yes
4. Can you delete any scenes without it affecting the narrative? No
5. Does the plot narrative use frame narratives to avoid long periods of consecutive description? Yes. In parts of this novel the frame narrative helps deepen the plot and helps develop character while staying on task in narrating only a small period of time.
6. Does the plot have simultaneous scenes to make the narrative more impressive. No. However for this kind of story it’s better not to expand beyond the old man since it would break the momentum and continuity syntactically it mirrors the authors concise writing style. 
7. Does most of the plot describe character action and utilize direct dialogue. Yes
8. Does the narrative keep the authorial commentary to a minimum. Yes
9. Is the plot Simple? No. This is a good thing.
10. Is the plot Complex? Yes

Old Man and the Sea is textbook Aristotle's Poetics!

While we wait for a month to pass and our memories to wane here's something important to consider when examining how authors produce master narrative works. 


2,500 years ago, yes, that's correct, 2,500 years ago, one of mankind's most famous philosophers undertook a study of Tragedy.

The philosopher was none other than Plato's star student: Aristotle.

As he had done with every subject he studied, Aristotle analyzed the greek tragedy like it was one of the biological organisms he so often observed.

After looking at many of the plays of his day and determining which were popular and which fell short, he came up with the characteristics that predispose a play to success with the demos. In other words, he uncovered all the things that must be incorporated into a play to make it successful with the public in the Athenian democracy.

In a way, he was like Darwin, sifting through all the successful characteristics of an organism that provided it with longevity and genetic fitness to survive. 

When all was said and done it came down to just a few components required to make a successful play and by extension I would submit to you, a successful narrative.

In essence, if the book you're reading cannot be made into a play or movie, it may be missing something, at least as it pertains to the common man or women in the street. 

What are the important components?

Here they are in order of importance:

Plot

Character

Reason

Diction

Lyric

Spectacle

In the next instalment we'll look at The Old Man and the Sea and see how close it comes to matching with the required Aristotelian Tragedy ideals.

Top 5 Memorable Moments!

The first step is to read the entire book and record the top five memorable scenes or impressions indicating why they stick out. After this don’t touch the book for a month and then come back to the blog. 

Why capture the top five? 

These scenes or impressions are likely the areas having the most impact and helps you zero in on some of the best writing within the corpus. 

Here are mine:

1. The early scenes with the boy and the old man. Why? This close and affectionate interaction with an old man who’s not a relative is alien to me and rarely occurs in my culture
2. The described spartan existence of the old man.Why? The words and images this section brings up are appealing. 
3. The scenes describing the hooking of the marlin and how the old man imagines the fish powerfully swimming deep beneath in the dark sea and the strength portrayed by the image of it pulling the skift along. Why? The beauty of the powerful fish and the image it conjures up
4. The killing of the sharks. Why? The words used and the images of their attack on the beautiful fish with the counter attacks of the old man and the images of the sharks killed drifting down into the deep, fading from sight.
5. The image of the skeleton on the side of the skift and the great tail moving to the harbour waves as the old man sleeps at home. Why? The image is very clear despite it being illogical but a necessity for the tragedy to be fully realized. 

What is this Blog about?

This blog is an analytical attempt to elucidate the writing method of Earnest Hemingway using the novella “Old Man and the Sea”. 

At first it was going to be a private endeavour but I thought I’d create a blog in case others in the ether wanted to see what was uncovered and add their critical thoughts in this excavation project.

Why deconstruct this piece of writing?

It’s my belief, to turn a Socratic saying, that the unexamined book is not worth reading - when you’re studying how great writers performed their art. 

So, with a nod to Hemingway’s concise style, lets begin.