The Moon is Down vs. The Old Man and the Sea

After (finally!) finishing all my reading this summer for Honor's English, I am taking my last blog to compare what I thought of the two required reads this summer. They were The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck and The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. These two books are so completely different from each other, I was glad I got the opportunity to read both of them. One, novel filled with war and invasion, and the other a coming of age story of some sorts about a man and his fish. Going into the summer I assumed that I probably would not like either of these novels. I ended up really liking The Old Man and the Sea, which totally surprised me. I normally never like books like this, with nothing really exciting happening to the characters, but for some reason I thought it was really meaningful. I thought that The Moon is Down was just okay. I have only read one Warish novel that I have really liked (The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages, a story about a little girl whose parents were working for the Manhattan Project, building the atomic bomb) and this probably will not change. I do not like to read a whole bunch of fighting because I find it boring, and even though this novel did not have any fighting I still thought it was kinda boring.

I found that I did like a lot of the quotes in both novels and am going to talk more about a few again. "You're not a man anymore. You are a soldier. Your comfort is of no importance and, Lieutenant your life isn't of much importance. (Steinbeck 99). I have used this one twice already, but I just really think that its true. Back during World War II, people were expected to get drafted and fight in the war no matter what. And then in the war, they did not matter they were only used as numbers to try and win. "You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman. You loved him when he was alive and you loved him after. If you love him, it is not a sin to kill him. Or is it more?" (Hemingway 105). This quote is very meaningful because it shows the confusion someone can have about killing or destroying something they love. I like this one because it really makes you think what is moral and what is not.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

 Steinbeck, John. The Moon Is Down. New York: Penguin Classics, 1942. Print.