The Old Man and the Sea (Pulitzer Winner)

He always thought of the sea as la mar which is what people call her in Spanish when they love her.

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway is beautiful, sad, and haunting.  The wonderful experience of reading this 1953 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction makes suffering through some of the other winners worthwhile. The story is short, perfect, powerful, and complete.

The old man is Santiago, who hasn’t caught a fish in 84 days. The villagers consider him unlucky. He eventually even loses his apprentice because the boy's family is concerned that the bad luck will rub off.  So one day Santiago goes out alone and finally catches a fish, a huge marlin, and the two of them dance/battle. The interaction goes on for days, with the marlin dragging Santiago further and further away from shore. In the end, the sea takes its toll on Santiago.

The Old Man and the Sea reminds me of a Native American hunting story, yet it is the story of a Cuban fisherman. Deep in his heart, Santiago know the sea. He feels love and respect for the marlin, referring to him as “brother.” Yet, the story acknowledges the sea's dangers. Santiago isn’t puffed up with bravado. He accepts that he is an old man, yet all his years of fishing have made him masterful.

The Old Man and the Sea touched my heart and changed it. Part of me knows the story is also metaphorical, but I don’t want to think about that. I am content to let the metaphors reveal themselves in their own time.

The Way West (Pulitzer Winning Novel)

Again he felt greatness, smallness and greatness both among such wild riches. And, seeing the (wagon) train winding behind him, he thought with pride of it, of the onwardness of its people, of their stubborn, unthought-out yondering. 

The Way West by A. B. Gutherie helps bring the time of the Oregon Trail to life. This 1950 Pulitzer winning novel follows a wagon trail from Independence Missouri to Oregon. It gives the readers glimpses of what this experience must have been like for these pioneers: the hardships, the dangers, the beauty, and, yes, the conflicts.

I was especially touched by how women endured the trail. They left their homes, where they had a certain amount of security, for a life of hardship. Not only did they have to do most of the chores that they had done in Missouri, without the “conveniences” of a house, but they also had to help with the wagons. Many of them were pregnant. A wandering child could easily meet with death. In one poignant scene, Gutherie describes the worn hands of a woman who had once done fine needlework.

I sometimes forget how hard won this Atlantic to Pacific coast United States is. I often think of the military, but I seldom think of all the pioneers. This book helped me to feel grateful for their sacrifices.

The Town (Pulitzer Winning Novel)

Was there something deeper and more mysterious in his mother’s philosophy than he and his generation who knew so much had suspected; something not simple but complex; something which held not only that hardship built happiness but which somehow implied that hate built love; and evil, goodness? 

I was reading one of the last chapters of The Town by Conrad Richter when I realized that I was sobbing. Up until that time, I wasn’t sure that I even liked the book. I felt like I was just plodding along, determined to finish yet another one of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction books. Sure, there were some beautiful scenes. But, after reading more current, popular fiction with fast paced plots and witty narrators, reading this novel felt like a chore. Yet, I realized that it touched my heart. I knew these characters. Perhaps I even was one or more of the characters.

The Town won the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It is the third novel in Richter’s The Awakening Land Trilogy, which begins with pioneers settling in 1795 Ohio and ends with the citizens industrializing the town that eventually rises up. If I had read the first two novels in the series, I am sure that I would have had a very different impression of the story. For example, I would have better understood the importance of the trees. Still, I could easily follow the plot.

Most of the chapters revolve around Sayward, the founder of the town and the mother of ten children, or her son Chancey, the runt of the family who was never expected to survive into adulthood. In many ways they are foils to one another, Sayward’s hardiness versus Chancey’s frailty. A number of chapters are about Rosa, the illegitimate child of Sayward’s husband, a respected judge. Rosa provides yet another foil to Chancey. He imagines that he isn’t really his parent’s son. While Rosa doesn’t realize that she is the Judge’s daughter.

I’m still not a great fan of slow moving, period piece novels, but The Town has many beautiful scenes. In one, Sayward finds out her long-lost sister is still alive, but the reunion proves more bitter than sweet. In another scene, Sayward, who has spent a life-time feeling animosity toward the trees, brings some saplings home to plant in her town yard. Over and over, Sayward makes one concession after another, yet until the very end she remains a strong, admirable woman. Part of me wishes that I had read the series from the very beginning so that I could read more about this woman.

Tales of the South Pacific (Pulitzer Winning Fiction Book)

Waiting 

I might argue that Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener is primarily a book about what happens while Navy men and women wait and prepare for action in the South Pacific Islands during the Second World War. The book is a hybrid, short stories that together tell an overarching story. The book won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which that year had been changed from the former category of Pulitzer Prize for the Novel. In 1949, Tales of the South Pacific was made into a successful musical.

Two short stories especially tugged at my heart. In the first, “Mutiny,” Norfolk is planned to have a strategic airstrip built on it. When an officer goes to the island to find out what the delay is all about, the inhabitants teach him about the emotional history of the island. In the second touching story, “The Cave,” a brave Brit goes behind Japanese lines and gives radio broadcasts, which help with the Ally war efforts. To some of the Americans waiting on the islands, he is a type of folk hero. To others, he is an obsession. When the broadcasts abruptly stop, some of the listening Americans set out to find out what happened to him.

Oh, I am oh so tired of reading all the war stories among the Pulitzer winners. I enjoyed many of the short stories in Tales of the South Pacific, but others were a chore to read. I was glad that some of the short stories take on issues of prejudice and racism. I also was grateful that much of the book looks at human nature. Most of the stories have a certain depth to them. I am also glad that the Pulitzer award category is expanded to include a book of short stories. I finished Tales of the South Pacific curious to see the musical.