The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
The
Old Man and the Sea: An Introduction
The Old Man and the Sea is a short novel, based on
three-day journey of an old man, to catch a big fish. Ernest Hemingway wrote it
in 1951, published in 1952. The Old Man and the Sea is his last chief fictional
work. It is a heroic novel, and it deals with the concepts of aging,
self-identification, and commitment. The novel was an immediate success and is
still famous worldwide. It has been adapted into film three times, one of which
was animated. The Old Man and the Sea won Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953
and Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954.
Ernest
Hemingway (July, 1899 – July, 1961)
Ernest Hemingway, the author of this novel, was an
American. He was a sportsman, journalist, and writer of fiction and nonfiction.
His iceberg theory, writing in an economical and minimalistic style, influenced
the fictional writing of 20th century. He was born in 1899, and was second of
the six siblings. Hemingway had adventurous and happening life. He was an
ambulance driver in World War I and was present as a journalist in World War
II. He married four times and had four children. He shot himself in 1961,
ending his life.
Summary
of “The Old Man and the Sea”
The story revolves around the central character,
Santiago. He has gone straight 84 days, without catching a single fish. Due to
this, the people have started seeing him as ‘salao’, the worst of unluckiness.
He is considered so unlucky that the young boy, Manolin, who was his
apprentice, is stopped by his parents to go for fishing with Santiago anymore.
However, Manolin has admiration for Santiago and sees him as a mentor.
Therefore, Manolin visits Santiago each night at his shack. They talk about
American baseball, Manolin prepares food, and they just enjoy each other’s
company. One day, Santiago tells Manolin that the following day; he will go far
out into the Gulf Stream to fish. He is confident that the unluckiness, that
has attached itself to him, is going to wash away with this venture.
On the start of 85th day of unluckiness, the old man
does what he decided to do. He goes far off into the Gulf Stream and very
optimistically waits for his big catch. At noon, Santiago sees that a big fish,
which he identifies as a marlin, has taken his bait. Filled with joy, he tries
to pull the marlin, but instead, the marlin pulls the old man with his boat. He
tries to tie the cord with the boat but fails. The marlin keeps on pulling the
boat all through the day and night, for two days. In all this, trying to hold
on to the fish, the old man gets badly injured and exhausted. Every time the
marlin pulls hard, his hands end up getting more wounded. However, just like
the marlin, he does not give up.
The old man admires the marlin for it staying true
to its nature and struggling for freedom. He feels like the marlin is partner
in his pain, suffering, and also in his strength. Finally, on the third day of
old man’s struggling to keep the marlin, the fish tires and gives in. It starts
to circle around his skiff. Santiago, with all that he has in him, pulls the
fish and manages to kill it with a harpoon. He ties the fish to the side of the
skiff and finally, after days of unimaginable struggle, aims for home. Santiago
is happy and proud of himself that he has managed to catch a fish that would
have a great price, and feed a lot of people. However, he is also concerned
that his eaters will be unworthy of it because of its greatness.
Just within some time, due to scent of marlin’s
blood, sharks gather round. They start to tear flesh away from marlin. Santiago
manages to drive away a few but loses his harpoon as a result. Then as more
sharks keep coming, he makes another harpoon by putting his knife into an oar.
He kills several sharks and scares many away. However, still filled with
hunger, the sharks keep coming and stealing the flesh off of the marlin. In the
end, they leave nothing but the shell of marlin, which too only consisted of
mainly its backbone, head, and tail. Santiago feels defeated at the loss of his
precious opponent. He feels like his entire struggle, and labour ended in vain
and he lost. He tells the sharks too that they have destroyed him and his
dreams. He even blames himself for going too far.
Santiago reaches the shore, crushed with the labour
of past three days. With very little that was left in him, he carries his stuff
and struggles towards his shack. He leaves the skeleton of the martin, which he
had very arduously caught, behind. He thinks that it is of no use to him now.
Santiago makes it to his shack and just collapses on his bed. He goes into a
deep slumber and becomes oblivious to everything. Now on the shore, where his
boat is, fishermen gather round. They see the skeleton of the marlin attached
to it and measure it. It turns out to be 18 feet (5.5 m) from nose to tail. The
fish appears to be the biggest that the village had ever seen. The fishermen
tell Manolin to tell the old man how sorry they are over their rude behaviour.
Manolin gets teary when he sees the old man alive,
but injured. The old man tells Manolin that he lost again but Manolin assures
him that everything was fine. He brings him coffee and newspapers. They chat
and agree on going fishing together again. Some tourists that same day see the
marlin’s skeleton and mistake it as a shark. Now in the shack, the old man goes
back to his sleep and dreams of lions that he had seen in his youth when he was
in Africa.
Character
sketch of Santiago: The Hero of the Novel
Santiago is the main character of this novel. The
whole story revolves around him and his moral values. He lives in Cuba and is
impoverished because his good days are long gone. His wife has died earlier and
he never had any children. Now, at such an old age, he is unable to catch a big
fish or any fish at all at a regular pace. 84 days is the longest period in his
life where he has not been able to catch any fish.
A fishermen’s reputation depends on his luck and how
many fish he can catch. The old man is considered a stroke of bad luck in the
community when it comes to fishing. He used to teach fishing to a boy who had
been with him from a young age. Now his parents have sent him to learn from
other fishermen because of Santiago’s bad luck. But, what sets Santiago apart
from every regular fisherman is that he is dedicated to his profession on a
spiritual level. Mostly fishermen join it to earn money but he takes it as
nature’s course, which has to happen.
Santiago strongly feels that he is the part of that
nature’s course, playing his role in catching the fish. His moral values are
much different from the others when it comes to fishing properly and
professionally. Indeed, Santiago’s philosophy and internal code of behaviour
make him unconventional in his society. Santiago’s dedication to his profession
and talent separates him from the pragmatic fishermen motivated by money. He
stands apart from Cuba’s evolution to new materialism and a village fishing
culture converting to the fishing industry. He remains dedicated to the
profession he sees as a more spiritual way of life and a part of nature’s order
in the eternal cycle. It makes all creatures brothers in their common condition
of both predator and prey.
Santiago wants an extremely big catch – not only to
survive but also to prove his skills once again. He wishes to restore his
identity as a fisherman and secure his reputation in the community. To make
sure that Manolin will always cherish his memories and becomes his successor,
is one of the most important things in his life. For Santiago, the most important thing in
life is to live according to one’s beliefs with great enthusiasm and dignity.
In addition, to use one’s talents and gifts of nature to the best of one’s
ability, to struggle and to endure.
Moreover, save your individual existence through the work of your life,
accept the inevitable destruction with dignity, and pass on to the next
generation all that you have achieved. In these desires, He reflects the
desires of all of us.
What makes Santiago special is that despite a
lifetime of hardships, he is still a man in charge, and an expert who knows the
tricks of his fisherman’s craft. His eyes remain young, cheerful, and
undefeated. He knows how to rely on the transcendent power of his own
imagination to engender the inspiration and confidence he needs. He wants to
keep alive in himself and others the hope, dreams, faith, absorption, and
resolution to transcend hardship.
Character
sketch of Marlin
The marlin is a fish that has more to it to it than
any other could possibly have. It is not just a big fish but also one with a
true fighting spirit. Equally balanced with a successful fisherman and locked
in a long battle. It is also a creature
to which Santiago offers the same qualities that he possesses, admires, and
hopes to pass on. It has the dignity of the soul, greatness in life, loyalty to
one’s identity and ways, endurance, and beauty.
Since Santiago and Marilyn get locked in battle for three days, they
develop a close relationship. Santiago
first takes pity on the fish, praises it because he does not want to kill such
a precious creature, then empathizes, and recognizes it. He recognizes that just as a marlin was born
to be a fish, so was he born to be a fisherman.
He comes to the realization that he needs to kill it
in order to survive, and restore his dignity. They are brothers in the strange
circumstances brought upon them by nature, trapped in the natural cycle of
hunting. Marlin’s death represents Santiago’s greatest victory and the promise
of all the confusion he desperately hopes to redeem his individual existence
with. Yet, like Marlin, Santiago must
lose and suffer. After being attacked by
the Mako shark, Santiago eats marlin to maintain his body, and completes the
natural cycle in which the great creature transfers itself to Santiago. Not only are all creatures hunters and prey,
but they also nurture each other.
Marlin’s brave and relentless struggle in order to save its life becomes
Santiago’s bravery, which is inevitable in Santiago’s struggle to save the
marlin from the predators.
The Scavenger sharks snatch all the material value
from the marlin’s body, leaving only its skeleton for Santiago. Nevertheless, before the skeleton washes away
with the flow of tide and turns to garbage, it becomes a quiet witness to
Santiago’s greatness. It becomes a vehicle for internal moral values, through
which he wants to give meaning and dignity to his existence. The fisherman who gets the privilege to
measure marlin’s skeleton reports that it the fish is 18 feet long. It is a
clear evidence of the largest fish the villagers have ever known of coming out
of the bay. And when Manolin accepts the
spear of marlin, he accepts everything Santiago wants to give him in his life.
Character
sketch of Manolin
Manolin is a young boy who goes fishing with
Santiago. Since he is not able to catch any fish, his parents put Manolin with
another fisherman. The bond that the two share is still strong, despite the
circumstances. Manolin prepares food for Santiago, helps him with his tools.
Santiago tells stories of his adventures to Manolin and they always mesmerize
him. Manolin deeply cares for Santiago and tries to follow his teachings.
Santiago feels that Manolin is his last true relationship that has feelings and
depth in it. He takes him as his own replacement after death in the human
cycle. That is the reason why Santiago wants to teach his skills, talent, and
vision to Manolin, so the young boy can carry on his legacy.
Through the whole novel, Manolin has expressed his
trust on Santiago more than three times. At last, when he accepts the spear of
Marlin, it shows that Manolin has trust in Santiago’s skills. It is also a sign
that he will carry on his legacy and whatever he wants to teach him.
Quotations
in “The Old Man and the Sea” are listed below with explanations.
1. “Have faith in the Yankees my son. Think
of the great Joe DiMaggio.” (Santiago)
Santiago spoke these lines in his shack to Manolin,
when they were having a conversation about baseball.
Santiago’s appreciation and love for baseball is
clearly showing in his words. He especially admires DiMaggio because of his
great playing skills and energy in the field.
2. “There are many good fishermen and some
great ones. But there is only you.” (Manolin)
Spoken by Manolin, these words were for Santiago.
While going to bed, Santiago said that he knows many fishermen who have great
skills and are much better. Manolin compares him to DiMaggio and tells him that
he is unique just like him. He is a different fisherman who has respect for the
sea and a deep relationship with it.
3. “They are good… They play and make jokes
and love one another. They are our brothers like the flying fish.” (Santiago)
Santiago is talking about the porpoises here. They
always come to the side of his boat at night. He feels lonely at times,
thinking that no one should be like this in his or her old age. He wants
Manolin to be on his boat, fishing with him but he is unable to do so. The
porpoises are a sign of love for him. They come as a couple, which provides
strength to Santiago and soothes him. He considers them as his brothers as he
considers every other creature in the sea his brothers, especially the fish.
4. “Fish… I’ll stay with you until I am dead.”
(Santiago)
He says this line to the fish marlin that he hooks.
He knows that it is an extremely strong one. It will not be easy for him to
trail the fish around until it dies by losing strength. Santiago expresses his
determination by saying that either he will catch the fish or they will both
die doing so.
5. “Fish… I love you and respect you very
much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends.” (Santiago)
Santiago’s heart goes out to the sea creatures but
he has no choice. He needs to kill the marlin to prove and restore his identity
back as a fisherman. He considers the marlin as equal in a battle of
uncertainty. He does not know if he will survive it, but is still determined to
stay with the marlin. He will keep trying until he kills it.
6. “He didn’t beat you. Not the fish.”
(Manolin)
Manolin says this to Santiago after Santiago returns
home, having lost the fish and slept through the night. In the morning,
Santiago tells Manolin, “They truly beat me”. He is talking about the sharks
that ate the fish after he caught it. It was not the fish who beat him. The
fish and he were brothers in his eyes, and he feels like he has somehow
betrayed the fish by letting it be eaten by the scavenging sharks.
7. “I didn’t know sharks had such handsome,
beautifully formed tails.” (A female tourist)
Almost at the
end of the story, there is a female tourist examining the skeleton of marlin.
She asks a nearby waiter in wonder what it is. He tells her “Eshark”, meaning
that sharks ate it. She takes it as the skeleton being a shark, which is why
she says those lines. It shows how less an average person knows about the
creatures out there in the sea.
8. “I am a strange old man.” (Santiago)
Santiago says this to Manolin after they finish up a
day of fishing on separate boats. It is meant as an explanation for how his
eyes remain so good after going turtle-ing for so many years. Often he searches
and searches but returns without a fish. It also shows how strong he is while
wrestling the marlin and strange in a manner that he never loses faith and will
to go on.
He considers himself strange because of his bond
with the sea creatures.
9. “Anyone
can be a fisherman in May.” (Santiago)
He says this to Manolin after Manolin warns him to
keep himself warm, since it is September. It is more difficult to be a
fisherman when it is cold outside, but Santiago is up for the challenge.
He means that everyone can go fishing in the month
of May because it is warm and easy. The actual challenge comes when the winter
sets in. That is when an actual fisherman goes fishing.
10. “If
sharks come, God pity him and me.” (Santiago)
He says this aloud to himself while trailing the
marlin with his boat, waiting for it to give up. He is determined to be “worthy
of the great DiMaggio”, who is able to play baseball even with a bone spur. He
suspects that the sharks will soon smell the marlin’s blood. They are surely
going to come for its meat once they find the marlin. He sort of prays in this
line.
11. “It is
better to be lucky. But I’d rather be exact.”
(Santiago)
Santiago says this when his community starts calling
him unlucky. He believes that his success has nothing to do with luck. He has
complete faith in his skills and talent through which he can easily turn the
things around in his favor. If he goes fishing with the right knowledge, and
uses it to his advantage, he will surely catch a fish.
12. “All my
life the early sun has hurt my eyes. Yet they are still good.” (Santiago)
Fishing took a toll on Santiago. He says this to
show the readers how he keeps going even after he endured the hardships being
in the sea and under the bright sun. The early sunrays always hurt his eyes but
he is proud that they are still fine.
13. “I wish I
could show him what sort of man I am.” (Santiago)
Santiago says this aloud, thinking that if Manolin
were with him, he could show him everything. He could prove that he was still a
good fisherman.
14. “A man
can be destroyed but not defeated.” (Santiago)
Somewhat defenseless after having lost his harpoon
when protecting his catch from the sharks, the old man shows that an
individual’s willpower and resourcefulness will ultimately help him persevere.
He says that to show his determination that even if he lost his harpoon, his
defense mechanism, he is still not going to give up.
15. “It is
silly not to hope.” (Santiago)
Santiago concludes that hope is everything. When
everything goes wrong and there is nothing that you have, hope is still there.
It is an ever-present feeling for him that things will be normal again. Hope is
eternal and ultimately leads to triumph.
The Old Man and the Sea | Symbols
The Old Man and the Sea is rich in meaning.
Virtually every element operates on two levels, revealing a deeper symbolic
meaning beneath its literal function. Nothing that happens in the novella is
only what it seems. Instead the novella is an allegory, elevating the story of
Santiago's epic struggle with the marlin to humankind's universal struggle for
survival.
Lions
Both in his bed in the village and in his boat,
Santiago dreams of lions on the beaches of Africa, which he saw when he was a
boy on a ship that sailed and fished the coast of Africa. The lions symbolize
Santiago's lost youth as well as his pride (a group of lions is called a
"pride"). Santiago's love for the lions, which are fierce predators,
also mirrors his relationship with the marlin, whom he loves but whose death he
feels is necessary to his survival. In this way, the lions as also symbolize
Santiago's affinity with nature. Now that Santiago is no longer young, and has
lost his friends, family, and strength, he sees the lions only in his dreams.
Santiago's dreams of the lions at the end of the novella suggest that in
triumphing over the marlin, he has undergone his own rejuvenation.
Marlin
The marlin symbolizes the majesty of nature. With
its sheer size, strength, and tenacity as evidenced in its pulling Santiago's
skiff for several days, the marlin is a formidable opponent. Unlike other fish,
this marlin does not fight the hook but instead uses it to fight the old man.
The marlin seems successful at first, as the old man must hold on to the
fishing line so hard he is injured in the process. Watching the marlin put up
so strong a fight, the old man feels more and more akin to this creature and
begins to draw parallels. Although they seem to be mortal enemies in the
universal battle between predator and prey, Santiago realizes in the end they
are brothers because they are in this fight for the same reason: to survive.
Although both the marlin and the old man are part of
the natural order of life, locked in the struggle between predator and prey,
perseverance distinguishes the two. To triumph in his struggle against the
marlin, the old man must dig deep within himself to overcome not only the
marlin's strength but his own limitations: age, exhaustion, pain, hunger, and
thirst. The battle between the two is not merely the attempt of a fisherman
trying to reel in his catch and go home. This particular marlin brings out the
best in Santiago by pushing him to his limits. The battle becomes a symbol of
the constant struggle of an individual for survival within nature, a struggle
won only by one's willingness to go beyond what seems humanly possible.
The marlin also can represent Hemingway's writing
and career. In this sense, it's the writing Hemingway has worked on for his
entire life that he tries to hold onto.
Mast
The mast of the old man's skiff is an allusion to
the Christian cross, which in turn symbolizes pain and suffering for a greater
good. The three bleeding wounds Santiago suffers as he sails underneath the
mast of his skiff allude to the three wounds of Jesus Christ as he was nailed
to the cross, suffering to atone for humankind's sins. At the end of the story,
Santiago carries the mast to the shack similar to the way Jesus carried the
cross, symbolizing that Santiago has accepted his fate as Jesus accepted his.
Santiago will continue to fish no matter what, alone and lonely, neither asking
for help or miracles nor to succeed and live better. He will simply do,
unquestioningly, what individuals must: struggle to survive.
Joe
DiMaggio
Joe DiMaggio, the legendary New York Yankees
outfielder whose 56-game hitting streak that ended in 1941 still remains the
world record, symbolizes perseverance and persistence as well as skill. In
Santiago's eyes, the hitting streak alone makes DiMaggio formidable, yet
DiMaggio achieved this feat despite painful injuries such as the bone spurs
repeatedly mentioned in the novella. Much like DiMaggio, Santiago defies the
odds and catches the greatest fish of his career after a long dry spell,
survives for days out on the ocean without proper supplies, and emerges the
victor against aggressive sharks. His skill and perseverance while facing
seemingly insurmountable obstacles make him a hero worthy of respect even
though he does not succeed in bringing home his catch.
Sharks
Symbolizing the brute force of destruction, the
sharks are mindless creatures following their base instincts: the bloodlust
that lures them to their prey. Yet their very bloodlust also lures them to
their death. As they take bites out of the marlin in a feeding frenzy, they
come close enough to the skiff for Santiago to kill them. What sustains them
kills them. Neither their lives nor their deaths serve any purpose. Defeating
them with sheer willpower and innovation, Santiago not only survives himself
but also defends the magnificent marlin. He brings home the skeleton and thus
captures the creature's majesty and glory.
In a different interpretation, the sharks also
symbolize all the critics Hemingway faced in real life. Hemingway hadn't
produced much writing publicly in many years, and his most recent publication
had received a negative reception. This novella seems to liken those critics to
sharks who circle and pounce.
Manolin
Manolin, the young boy who loves, admires, and cares
for the old man, symbolizes hope and the future. He is Santiago's only friend
and companion; his help, literally, sustains the old man. Manolin is there
every night helping pack up Santiago's gear and providing food to make sure the
old man won't starve. Furthermore, he is the old man's apprentice. Although at
the beginning of the story he fishes on another boat, Manolin has learned
everything he knows from Santiago. Promising to fix the battered skiff and to
return to fishing with the old man, Manolin offers the help the old man needs
to keep going. Manolin believes in the old man and therefore will carry on his
legacy and bear witness to his achievement.
What
is a symbol and what is symbolism?
A symbol is something that gives a certain meaning
to an action, person, place, word, or thing in a piece of literature. Story-writers use symbolism to form a view of
emotions or moods rather than just saying them plainly. Following are the main
symbols used in “The Old Man and the Sea”: Marlin, dreams, loins, sea, mast,
shark, harpoons, bird, bear, cottage etc.
Santiago,
the Old Man
The old man is compared to Christ in a religious
manner, in terms of stamina and endurance. He is a teacher like Christ who
teaches Manolin to fish, and the way he is humble. Repeatedly, it is
demonstrated that the old man is a symbol of Christ with the way he fights the
marlin. Later on, he also survives the shark’s attacks.
The
Sea
The sea is a symbol of life and the struggles that
every person is bound to endure. According to Hemingway, man is the most worthy
in isolation because he has to work and survive on his own. The sea, in the
novel, is a sign of life and Santiago’s isolation in the universe. As we can
see that in the sea, there is no help or laws at all. Santiago faces his
ultimate challenge all alone and survives. The novel, in this regard, is an
example of Naturalism in Literature.
The
Marlin
The Marlin is a good opponent of Santiago, worthy of
fight. It is a symbol of dignity and pride. The Marlin is in contrast to the
sharks that are shameful rivals, not commendable to Santiago’s endeavours. Magnificent
and radiant, the Marlin represents a perfect rival. In the world’s reality
where, “Everything kills everything else in some way”, Santiago feels truly
fortunate to wind up against an animal that draws out the best in him. The
Marlin brings out his qualities of courage, talent, fortitude, love, and
regard.
Manolin
Manolin symbolizes pure love, compassion, and circle
of life. He dearly loves Santiago and cares for him. Between Manolin and Old
Man, there is a vast age difference. It symbolizes their skills of fishing. One
day Manolin will be able to reach that point and carry Santiago’s legacy.
Manolin is the symbol of hope.
Sharks
The sharks in “the Old Man and the Sea” symbolize
the obstacles in life and the labour against them. Sharks are the opposite of
the marlin. For Santiago, the sharks are vile predators, that are not worthy of
admiration or glory. They are like detrimental energies that promote no other
purpose in life.
The
lions
The lions in the story symbolize youth of the old
man. They are a symbol of strength. At the end of the novel, when Santiago
dreams of the lions, it represents the hope of eternal life, of freedom and
youth. Because of the qualities of strength of lions and their proud, the
writer has used them to represent childhood days of Santiago. Lions are a
symbol for his might and pride in days of his youth. Just as Santiago hunts the
Marlin, lions are also mighty creatures and hunters.
DiMaggio
DiMaggio symbolizes the value of enduring through
pain and suffering. He is a Symbol of motivation to keep Santiago on his feet.
DİMaggio is a true representation of Santiago’s talent, pride, and ethics. He
is also a sign of hope for the old man. Santiago desires that Manolin will grow
up to become like the great DiMaggio, strong and young. He does not want him to
be like him, a poor fisherman.
The
Mast
The Mast is a symbol and represents as the cross of
Jesus. The mast stands on Santiago’s skiff. It is similar to the cross because
of the way Santiago suffers. He goes three days with painful injuries to the
palms of his hands as Jesus did and to his back as well.
The
Harpoon
While fighting off sharks, Santiago loses his
Harpoon. It is a symbol for those who lose faith, and doubt everything in their
life. When life tests them with struggles, they lose hope, as Santiago is
without his harpoon, defenceless. People are exactly like that without faith.
