# Question about The old man and the sea **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 25, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-old-man-and-the-sea/318533 "2005-08-25T04:04:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Plan\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Plan\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plan_B)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-old-man-and-the-sea/318533/1 "2005-08-25T04:04:01Z")
I read _The old man and the sea_ when I was a kid and it was just a nice story. Years later I heard something about it being a metaphor for something and it made a lot of sense to me. Now I just can’t remember what the metaphor was. Couldn’t get anywhere by searching the web. In fact I found a quote where EH said something like: The man is a man. The boat is a boat… Can anyone help me out with this one? Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2005, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-old-man-and-the-sea/318533/2 "2005-08-25T04:37:34Z")
Google found [this](http://allfreeessays.com/student/Old_Man_and_The_Sea.html) pretty quickly for me. ---
**Author:** ![Plan\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Plan\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plan_B)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-old-man-and-the-sea/318533/3 "2005-08-26T01:27:51Z")
Thanks ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-old-man-and-the-sea/318533/4 "2005-08-26T02:01:55Z")
Back in high school in my Lit class, one of my friends told the teacher that if he ever wrote a story that became famous, he was going to include the following foreword: _Literature teachers everywhere, please take note: This story does not have any hidden meanings. Nothing in this story is a metaphor for anything else. It’s just an interesting story, and any deep or profound meanings you find are purely your own invention._ We all had a good laugh. Including the teacher. ---
**Author:** ![Ezekiel25\_17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@Ezekiel25\_17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ezekiel25_17)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-old-man-and-the-sea/318533/5 "2005-08-26T07:50:47Z")
Thats pretty close to the narrator’s disclaimer in Moby Dick: > [@](#): > > “… they might scout at Moby Dick as a monstrous fable, or still worse and more detestable, a hideous and intolerable allegory” ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-old-man-and-the-sea/318533/6 "2005-08-26T10:33:26Z")
I prefer Mark Twain’s version > [@](#): > > Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. By Order of the Author. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-the-old-man-and-the-sea/318533/7 "2005-08-26T14:42:46Z")
Not as good as Twain’s formulation, but for the record > [@](#): > > Originally written by **J.R.R. Tolkien** in the foreword to LOTR: > I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence