The Greatest Instances Of Big Game Fishing In Great Books

Too often, there's a conception of literature as something dusty and inactive. This couldn't be further from the truth. The great books feature tons of examples of strong characters doing dramatic and compelling things, and this is true from any perspective, even that of the sportsman who isn't accustomed to being drawn in by literature. A good example of this is the proliferation of big game fishing in classical books.

Herman Melville's "Moby Dick" is a fantastic example of this trend. Published in America more than one hundred years ago, it tells the story of Captain Ahab and his fanatical quest for vengeance against the white whale Moby Dick. The whale had injured him some years previous, and now with a wooden leg, Ahab thirsts for revenge.

Over the course of the novel, one learns a great deal about whaling and the kind of people who might take part in it. On the other hand, though, the real thrust of the novel is Ahab's obsession and the depths to which it takes him and the rest of the crew. A nice reminder that life shouldn't be squandered on a singular obsessive search, no matter the object.

A little bit later, in the 20th century, we get Ernest Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea". This story is close to the hearts of many people because Hemingway, who was a fisherman himself for many years, imbues the story not just with exciting details of the trade, but also a great deal of insight into the character of the old man, one of the most heroic figures in modern literature.

And he does. One day he hooks into a massive marlin, but he cannot overpower it. All he can do is remain hooked to the beast, fighting its efforts to free itself, until at last it becomes exhausted and he can row it in. For days and nights, he hangs on, and we get a glimpse of just how much something like fishing can define and underline a human life.

Even the Bible chimes in with its own fishing story, and it too is a pretty good one. When the prophet Jonah hears the call of God, he attempts to shirk his duty by buying passage on a fishing vessel headed far away from his homeland. During the course of the voyage though, things do not go as planned.

This happens, of course, because he's actually thrown overboard by his shipmates. It turns out that Jonah came on board the ship because he had been trying to escape God's calling for him, and in doing so, had caused God to send many storms and other obstacles against the vessel. In the end, it is too much for the other shipmen, and they consign Jonah to his fate.

In the end, of course, just as Jonah is redeemed from the whale, so too does literature help to redeem big game fishing from its reputation as a purely relaxing or brutish sport. Instead, in the hands of capable authors, it becomes a thing of beauty, a grueling contest not just between man and nature, but between man and his own limitations.