I need an explanation of the following sentence from the book: “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway.
“They were moving slowly now and the glow of Havana was not so strong, so that he knew the current must be carrying them to the eastward. If I lose the glare of Havana we must be going more to the eastward, he thought. For if the fish’s course held true I must see it for many more hours”.
Please explain what does it mean: “For if the fish’s course held true I must see it for many more hours”.
As I understand things, there is a fish pulling the boat and the fish has been pulling the boat in a certain direction (but not eastward). If the fish doesn’t change direction (i.e., remains/continues on the same “non-eastward” course as before), then the glare of Havana will also remain visible for many more hours.
phrasal verb: hold true = remain valid, applicable or unchanged
. Hold true has a couple of meanings, though the online dictionaries seem to list only Van Khanh’s. I think that Yankee’s (hold true = remain valid, applicable or unchanged) applies here. (It helps that I have been reading The Old Man and the Sea over and over with students for the past several years. I know that dumb boat and fish backwards and forwards!-- ‘I think the great DiMaggio would be proud of me today’. )
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I like this book so much that I have decided to the best of my abilities translate it into Serbian language. I may need your assistance again with certain sentences.
“When the old man had gaffed her and clubbed her, holding the rapier bill with its sandpaper edge and clubbing her across the top of her head until her colour turned to a colour almost like the backing of mirrors, and then, with the boy’s aid, hoisted her aboard, the male fish had stayed by the side of the boat”.
Sad story
The old man was holding onto what while clubbing her? I guess to her “sword”, “rapier bill”, how about this sandpaper edge of the “sword” right? And what would be the meaning of this backing of mirrors, what kind of colour is that? It must be an idiom?
The old man was holding the fish’s “beak” (bill) and the fish has a bill that looks like a sword. The edges of the swordlike bill are rough like sandpaper. (The fish is a marlin. Google will find lots of pictures for you. :D)
No, it’s not an idiom. When I read “backing of a mirror”, I think of the silver color that is applied to the glass to make the glass reflect. This silver color has a protective layer of paint on top of it. I think the protective layer can be any color (but I’m not sure). So, from the context, I’d expect the color to be either silvery or dark red (from blood?) Maybe Mr Mic can clarify this.
Since Mr. Mic is so familiar with this book, here is another passage for his “expert opinion”
So the boy has joined another boat and he no longer fishes with the old man. The story continues…
“Tomorrow is going to be a good day with this current”, he said.
“Where are you going?” the boy asked.
“Far out to come in when the wind shifts. I want to be out before it is light”.
“I’ll try to get him to work far out”. the boy said. "
Then if you hook something truly big we can come to your aid".
“He does not like to work too far out”.
“No”, the boy said. “But I will see something that he cannot see such as a bird working and get him to come out after dolphin”.
“Are his eyes that bad”?
“He is almost blind”.
“It is strange”, the old man said. "He never went turtle-ing. “That is what kills the eyes”.
“But you went turtle-ing for years off the Mosquito Coast and your eyes are good”.
Who is almost blind? I am guessing that man with who the boy is fishing now. There was not a single discription of this man in the book, and they do sometimes talk about “HE”, and I am not sure who this “HE” is?
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Yes, ‘he’ is the fisherman the boy is now fishing with. But he may not be as blind as the boy suggests-- Manolin is belittling him somewhat out of respect for the Old Man.
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…the old man remembers one occasion when he cought a female marlin and how the male marlin stayed with her until the end. The story continues…
"That was the saddest thing I ever saw with them, the old man thought. The boy was sad too and we begged her a pardon and butchered her promptly.
Mr. Mic, how would you explain this expression: “begged her a pardon”. I understand that they felt so sorry for the fish they cought that they as a figure of speach asked her to forgive them, or something like that…
I am still on the same topic, the old man and the fish…I’d like to ask Mr. Mic to explain the following “idiom”.
“The bird looked at him when he spoke. He was too tired even to examine the line and he teetered on it as his delicate feet gripped it fast”.
“It’s steady,” the old man told him. “It’s too steady. You shouldn’t be that tired after a windless night. What are birds coming to?”
The hawks, he thought, that come out to sea to meet them. But he said nothing of this to the bird who could not understand him anyway and who would learn about the hawks soon enough.
What would be the meaning of this questions: What are birds coming to? Following the context, I would think that what the old man meant was: What do the birds afraid of? Or what is hunting them? Am I close enough? Please explain. Thank you.
. What are birds coming to? = ‘What are birds becoming?’ (here, ‘Are birds getting weaker?’). The old man (who has been working all night trying to catch his big fish) is half-humorously castigating the bird for being so tired.
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