just finished "Old Man and the Sea" by Hemingway. Maybe it's because I used it as a bathroom reader, but I'm not sure what I'm supposed to get from it.
The old man needs the fish for money. But he's old and shouldn't be fishing anymore. He caught the fish because he's salty and determined but the sharks ate at it so he won't get the money he needs and he probably should have packed it in a while ago. It's a lesser Hemingway that won a Nobel because he hadn't won a major award for deserving work like A Farewell to Arms. It kinda sucks. Here, read "Hills Like White Elephants" http://genius.com/Ernest-hemingway-hills-like-white-elephants-annotated
Then read "Everything Like White Elephants" http://the-toast.net/2014/05/14/everything-like-white-elephants/