An Essay Topic - Old Man and the Sea

An Essay Topic - Old Man and the SeaOld Man and the Sea is a novel by Danielle Steel, whose bio states, 'she's half-Japanese, half-Irish and just loves to tell tales about her grandparents'. I would call that dedication to family traditions and folktales more than a novel, but it's more than that. The book is indeed a love letter to those great Irish and Italian immigrants, who brought the blue-eyed people from Sicily and the Gold Coast in the first place. Old Man and the Sea presented such a beautiful background to those ancestors, why is it still underrated?After all, there's not much of the island to visit, as it is still technically part of Italy. The place that they came from was far too hot and dry for them. It is a land of forests and deserts. A land of deserts, to be sure, but also a land of thunderstorms and sand storms, a land of the Nile, of the Pyramids, of the fabled Sphinx.Old Man and the Sea tells the story of O'Connor, who is the son of one of those Italians. O'Connor is from the tiny town of Melrose, New York, and grew up in a small house in a little village of farmers. He had an imaginary friend called Nappy, who visited him each night when he went to bed. He loved everything about the village life, and was only too happy to let anyone know it, even his own father.When he finally made it to America, O'Connor did not find his long-lost half-Irish grandparent cousins there, or their farm, or any of their old friends. Instead, he found himself in the grand city of Chicago, in a pretty high-rise apartment. So where was he?It was there that he met a boy namedTom, who was in the same class with him at school. They started dating, and then moved into the city together. They spent their days trying to make ends meet, and the evenings, lying around, talking about the old days, the old relatives, and everything in between.One evening they were having such a good time, O'Connor and Tom decided to go home, and take a look around their little town. They ca me across something very important, and the rest of the book follows their new-found interest. It is in that town where the story takes place, which is described beautifully, and could have been a part of any city in the world.Old Man and the Sea focuses on these two men, and their trip through American history. It's a tale of escape, nostalgia, and love. It is a loving tribute to those great Irish and Italian immigrants, but more than that, it is a love letter to them, and the land of their heritage. A place which is both hard and hardy, and a place that has hidden beauty and heroic beauty, a place that has myth and memory as its fresh ingredients.Old Man and the Sea is a fantastic novel. It makes you think and ask questions, and get a bit teary, and then go back to reading.