Vivid Description Used in The Old Man and the Sea Anonymous 11th Grade

Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and The Sea" is undoubtedly a truly brilliant classic story. One writing technique that Ernest Hemingway used extremely well in this book is a vivid description. Because the bulk of the story takes on a small skiff in the middle of the ocean, Hemingway turns to an avid description of everything, no matter how insignificant to the plot. Hemingway describes fish, birds, sharks and the sea masterfully and leaves nothing left un-described. This over-analysis of usually mundane objects turns what would an otherwise boring story into a descriptive masterpiece.

This over-description is used extensively throughout the book. There is rarely a detail left un-described. Hemingway even describes aspects of the story which should arguably be left un-described. For example, when the author writes "The shaft of the harpoon was projecting at an angle from the fish’s shoulder and the sea was discoloring with the red of the blood from his heart. First, it was dark as a shoal in the blue water that was more than a mile deep. Then it spread like a cloud. The fish was silvery and still and floated with the waves." To some, this gruesome description of the blood from the fish's heart may be unnecessary, but Hemingway...