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Old Man and The Sea

Earnest Hemingway

Life and Works of Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)

Born on July 21, 1899 in suburban Oak Park, IL to Dr. Clarence and Grace
Hemingway, Ernest was the second of six children to be raise in the quiet
suburban town by his physician father and devout, musical mother. Indeed,
Hemingway’s childhood pursuits fostered the interests which would blossom
into literary material.

Although Grace hoped her son would be influenced by her musical intersects,
young Hemingway preferred accompanying his father on hunting and fishing
trips; this love of outdoor adventure would later be reflected in many of
Hemingway’s stories; particularly those featuring protagonist Nick Adams.
Hemingway’s aptitude for physical challenge remained with him through high
school, where he both played football and boxed. Because of permanent eye
damage contracted from numerous boxing matches, Hemingway was
repeatedly rejected from service in World War I. Boxing provided more
material for Hemingway’s stories, as well as a habit of likening his literary
feats to boxing victories.
Hemingway also edited his high school newspaper and reported for the
Kansas City Star, after adding a year to his age, after graduating from high
school in 1917. After this short stint, Hemingway finally was able to participate
in World War One, as an ambulance driver for the American Red Cross. He
was wounded on July 8, 1918 on the Italian front near Fossalta di Piave;
during this convalescence in Milan he had an affair with nurse Agnes von
Kurowsky. Hemingway was given two decorations by the Italian government,
and joined the Italian infantry. Fighting on the Italian front inspired the plot
of A Farewell to Arms in 1929. Indeed, war itself is a major theme in
Hemingway’s works. Hemingway would witness first hand the cruelty and
stoicism required of soldiers he portrayed in his writing when covering the
Greco-Turkish War in 1920 for the Toronto Star. In 1937 he was a war

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correspondent in Spain; the events of the Spanish Civil War inspired For
Whom the Bell Tolls.
Upon returning briefly to the United States after the World War, Hemingway,
as well as working for the Toronto Star, lived for a short time in Chicago.
There, he met Sherwood Anderson and married Hadley Richardson in 1921.
On Andersen’s advice, the couple moved to Paris, where he served as foreign
correspondent for the Star. As Hemingway covered events on all of Europe,
the young reporter interviewed important leaders such s Lloyd George
Clemenceau, and Mussolini.
The Hemingway lived in Paris from 1921-1926; this time of stylistic
development for Hemingway reaches its zenith in 1923 with the publication of
Three Stories and Ten Poems by Robert Mcalmon in Paris and the birth of his
son John. This time in Paris inspired the novel A Moveable Feast, published
posthumously in 1964.
In Paris, Hemingway used Sherwood Anderson’s letter of introduction to meet
Gertrude Stein and enter the world of ex-patriot authors and artists who
inhabited her intellectual circle. The famous description of this “lost
generation” was born of an employee’s remark to Hemingway, and became
immortalized as the epigraph on his first major novel, The Sun Also Rises.
This “lost generation” both characterized the postwar generation and the
literary movement it produced. In the 1920’s, writes such as Anderson, F.
Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and Gertrude Stein decried the
false ideals of patriotism that led young people to war, only to the benefit of
materialistic elders. These writer’s tenets that the only truth was reality, and
thus life could be nothing but hardship, strongly influenced Hemingway.
The late 1920’s were a time of much publication for Hemingway. In 1926, The
Torrents of Spring and The Sun Also Rises were published by Charles
Scribner’s Sons in 1927 Hemingway published a short story collection, Men
Without Women. So too, in that year he divorced Hadley Richardson and
married Pauline Pfieffer, a write for Vogue. In 1928 they moved to Key West,
where sons Patrick and Gregory were born, in 1929 and 1932. 1928 was a year
of both success and sorrow for Hemingway; in this year, A Farewell to
Arms published and his father committed suicide. Clarence Hemingway had
been suffering from hypertension and diabetes. This painful experience is
reflected in the pondering of Robert Jordan in For Whom the Bell Tolls.

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In addition to personal experiences with war and death, Hemingway’s

extensive travel in pursuit of hunting and other sports provided ample
material for his novels. Bullfighting inspired Death in the Afternoon,
published in 1932. In 1934, Hemingway went to safari in Africa, which gave
him new themes and scenes on which to base The Snows of Kilamanjaro and
The Green Hills of Africa, published in 1935. As before mentioned, he traveled
to Spain as a war correspondent in 1937, the same year as To Have and Have
Not. After his divorce from Pauline in 1940, Hemingway married Martha
Gelhorn, a writer; the couple toured China before settling in Cuba at Finca
Vigia, or look-out farm. For Whom the Bell Tolls was published this year.
During World War Two Hemingway volunteered his fishing boat and served
with the U.S. Navy as a submarine spotter in the Caribbean. In 1944, he
traveled through Europe with the Allies as war correspondent and participated
in the liberation of Paris.
Hemingway divorced again in 1945, and married Marry Welsh, a
correspondent for Time magazine, in 1946. They lived in Venice before
returning to Cuba.
In 1950 Across the River and Into the Trees was published; it was not received
with the usual critical acclaim. In 1952, however, Hemingway proved the
comment “Papa is finished” wrong, as The Old Man and the Sea won the
Pulitzer Prize in 1953. In 1954, he won the Nobel Prize for Literature.
In 1960, the now aged Hemingway moved to Ketchum, Idaho, where he was
hospitalized for uncontrolled high blood pressure, liver disease, diabetes, and
depression.
On July, 2, 1961, he died of self-inflected gunshot wounds and was buried in
Ketchum. “Papa” was both a legendary celebrity and a sensitive writer, and his
influence, as well as unseen writings, survived his passing. In 1964 A
Moveable Feast was published; in 1969, The Fifth Column and Four Stories of
the Spanish Civil War, in 1970, Islands in the Steam published; ion 1972, The
Nick Adams Stories; in 1985, The Dangerous Summer; and in 1986 The
Garden of Eden were published.
Hemingway’s own life and character are indeed as fascinating as any in his
stories. On one level, Papa was a legendary adventurer who enjoyed his
flamboyant lifestyle and celebrity status. But deep inside lived a disciplined
author who worked tirelessly in pursuit of literary perfection. His success in
both living and writing is reflected in the fact that Hemingway is a hero to

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both intellectuals and rebels alike; the passions of the man are only equaled by
that of his writing.

Life of Ernest Hemingway and Background to the

Novel "The Old man and the Sea"
Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois, on July 21, 1899. He was the second of six
children of Dr and Mrs Clarence Hemingway who, although devoted to each other, were
temperamentally very different: while Mrs Hemingway was a deeply religious woman with a
passion for music, her husband was an outdoors man, fond of hunting and fishing.
Ernest took after his father with a passion for the rough and tumble like fishing, boxing, big
game hunting, and later with the dangerous edge of things, reporting from the frontline in the
First World War, the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. Hemingway was seriously
injured on the Italian front which left him with a permanent handicap that was reflected in his
writings on the cruelty and stoic endurance that war requires.
Most writers begin their careers as reporters and so did Hemingway, first with Kansas City
Star and later with the Toronto Star. The newspapers gave him the opportunity to visit the
frontlines and meet all the leading European statesmen––Lloyd George, Clemenceau,
Mussolini—who were to play a leading role in world politics in the 20s and 30s Hemingway
made Paris his base and it was during one of his visits here that he met the American writer,
Sherwood Anderson, who gave him a letter of introduction to the critic Gertrude Stein. With
this, Hemingway was introduced to the world of writers and artists who visited Stein often. It
was Stein who casually commented that all writers of the time were “a lost generation” which
Hemingway was to use as a epitaph to A Sun Also Rises.
The “lost generation” was immediately acceptable to readers of the 20s and 30s. They were
inheritors of a peace settlement after the First World War that brought worldwide depression
and sowed the seeds of Nazism and Fascism and the Second World war. For this generation
which believed that the ideals of peace and democracy would be preserved after all the sacrifices
made in the First World War the developments of the 20s and 30s were a cruel blow to their
aspirations. They were indeed “lost” and did not know where to turn to for an understanding of
what had happened. Hemingway addressed this audience with a series of novels that had a
background of war, violence and uncertainty: The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, Across
the River and into the Trees, For Whom the Bell Tolls.
Hemingway’s life was anything if not colourful. He married several times and had affairs with
women, but none of them lasted for long. Apart from these relationships, what struck him hard
was the suicide of his father who had long been ill with hypertension and diabetes. In 1940,
Hemingway married Martha Gelhorn, the photographer, and together they toured China and
then bought a house in Cuba which became more or less his home.
Hemingway wrote his work, The Old Man and the Sea in 1952 for which he received the Pulitzer
Prize in 1953 and the Nobel in 1954. The citation of the Nobel said that Hemingway was
awarded the Prize “for his powerful style-forming mastering of the art of modern narration, as
most recently evidenced in The Old Man and the Sea.” In talking about the novel, Hemingway
said that he had probably read it two hundred times before giving the manuscript to his

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publishers. He went on to say, “What many another writer would be content to leave in massive
proportions, I polish into a tiny gem.”

Introduction to the Novel and Main Characters

The Old Man and the Sea is a small novel, less than 100 pages. It is the story of an old
fisherman, Santiago, who catches a big fish but loses it and then rises above his defeat to try
again. It is also the story of a touching relationship between the old man and a young boy.
But it is not the story line that is of any significance; what matters is the sub-text and the
philosophical message that it carries. Santiago, though old, dares to try and try again—and
succeeds only to lose. He loses the battle with the sharks and his prize fish but he does not lose
heart because he knows that he has done his best and retains the courage to try and try again. In
other words, as Hemingway says in the novel, “Man is not made for death. A man can be
destroyed but not defeated” This is the essential message of the novel.

Santiago: An old Cuban fisherman.

Manolin: A young boy, Santiago’s closest friend.
Martin: The owner of the Terrace who gives Manolin food for the old man.
Pedrico: He receives the head of the marlin to use for his traps.
Rogelio: A young boy who had helped Santiago with his fish nets.
The Marlin: The biggest fish ever caught in the Gulf.
Los Galanos are hunting sharks who destroy the marlin.
The Mako Shark is known as the killer shark with eight rows of teeth.

The Old Man and the Sea is not divided into separate chapters. It is one continuous story and
has to be read as such. But for the sake of convenience, we have divided it into separate divisions
so that the philosophical aspects of the novel are more easily understood. We have also used
large extracts from the novel which have been presented in italics. Although the novel has been
covered comprehensively, it is important that you read it and form your own opinions about it.

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The most substantial disagreements is on whether or

not The Old Man and the Sea is a tragedy.” Would
you or would you not call this novel a tragedy? Give
reasons for your answer.

Most of the critics disagree on this that whether “The Old Man and the Sea” is
a tragedy or not. It is difficult for an average reader to settle this problem. But
most of the criteria’s of tragedy from Aristotle to the present, has same
relevance with this novel. It is a fact that Hemingway’s earlier novel show
himself more or less a nihilist, a man who finds the universe to be governed by
arbitrary forces and who depicts man as alienated from society and as
suffering grievous losses without shame or reason. But “The Old Man and the
Sea” is different, different as regards the universe it depicts and as regards it
hero.

Throughout the novel Santiago is given heroic qualities, like boy adds, “There
are many good fishermen and some great ones. But there is only you.”
Hemingway depicts the character of Santiago as a skilled craftsman. He didn’t
believe on luck, but on exactness. In “The Old Man and the Sea”, Santiago has
faced many crucial circumstances which had given to him a quizzical place
where he felt that his existence seems temporary; like his unfortunate
condition is not catching a single fish from the last eighty five days, his battle
with Marlin and also his battle with the scavenger sharks.
Santiago has also a flaw in his character that he knew well the reality but he
believed on private individualism and pride. And Hemingway has showed
tragic irony through Santiago’s qualities and his heroic bent of mind.
So the whole novel showed the same tradition which Sophocles, Melville, and
Conrad used in their novels and dramas. “The Old Man and the Sea” is surely
a tragedy, though this tragedy is no longer bleak and accidental; this tragedy is
purposive.

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What are the qualities of DiMaggio that the old man

eulogizes? (PU: 2004)

Although DiMaggio never appears in the novel, he plays a significant role

nonetheless. Santiago worships him as a model of strength and commitment,
and his thoughts turn toward DiMaggio whenever he needs to reassure
himself of his own strength. Despite a painful bone spur that might have
crippled another player, DiMaggio went on to secure a triumphant career. He
was a centre fielder for the New York Yankees from 1936 to 1951, and is often
considered the best all-around player ever at that position.

The Sea is presented as a living character in the

novel. Discuss. (PU: 2005)

The rich waters of the Gulf Stream provide a revolving cast of bit players––
birds and beasts—that the old man observes and greets.
Through Santiago’s interactions with these figures, his character emerges. In
fact, Santiago is so connected to these waters, which he thinks of good-
humoredly as a sometimes fickle lover, that the sea acts almost like a lens
through which the reader views his character. Santiago’s interaction with the
weary warbler, for instance, shows not only his kindness but also, as he thinks
about the hawks that will inevitably hunt the tiny bird, a philosophy that
dominates and structures his life. His strength, resolve, and pride are
measured in terms of how far out into the gulf he sails. The sea also provides
glimpses of the depth of Santiago’s knowledge: in his comments about the
wind, the current, and the friction of the water reside an entire lifetime of
experience, skill, and dedication. When, at the end of the novella, Manolin
states that he still has much to learn from the old man, it seems an expression
of the obvious.

Write a brief note on Hemingway’s style? (PU: 2006)

Hemingway’s style is nearly the same in “The Old Man and The Sea” as we
have found in most of his works. His style’s simplicity’ economy’ and a
complete absence of adornment and embellishment are unique in everyway.

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“Everything about him (Santiago) was old except his eyes and they were the
same colour as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated”.
The whole meaning of this passage is conveyed through simple words. It
shows his physical appearance and his courageous personality.
The Dialogues in this novel have many qualities like they are spare’
economical and absolutely free from any touch of Rhetoric.

Describe Santiago’s search for fish? (PU: 2006)

Hemingway’s “the old man and the sea” shows his love for gallantry and
courage apart from everything the marlin towing operation’ the adversary’s
courage and power are emphasized in three stages.

In the first stage we find that Santiago sets some baits on different fathom’s
length. And after some time he hooked marlin and his unfortunate journey
starts. He has showed huge amount of courage and endurance to sustain
himself in this difficult expedition like other Hemingway characters in similar
positions’ he is by now trying “not to think but only to endure”. At sunset it is
still the same. “I wish I could see him only once “thinks Santiago” to know
what I have against me. We can say in the first stage both of them have equal
courage and endurance.
In the second stage the night has covered the sky but Santiago seems residual
and optimistic and said “but I will kill you dead before this day ends”
Third stage marks the height of Santiago’s struggle’ comes on the morning the
third day with the marlin come to the surface and he challenged him that
come on and kill me. But after some resistance from marlin side. He
dominated on him and killed him.

Santiago attitude towards the great Marlin

Santiago bears a significant relationship with the other characters in the Hemingway
canon. Santiago’s character in this novel is the not worthy character and holds great importance.

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In the beginning of the novel, Santiago is being showed in a deserted condition where he is left
alone by every one because he was unable to catch a fish in eighty four days than he planned an
expedition to go far out in the sea, in search of a fish.

In the beginning of his expedition he hooked a great Marlin. Santiago’s relation with Marlin is
remarkable through out the novel. “I love you and respect you very much fish but I will kill you
dead before this day ends”, says the old man. He did not like the prospect of killing his true
brothers at the sea. Santiago thought that this fish is so much different in its manners that no
one is worthy of eating its flesh as in novel.
“No one is worthy of eating it as from the manner of his behavior and great dignity”.
Great dignity and manner of the fish also endures strength in Santiago’s weakening body man as
he said “let him think I am more man than I am and I will be so”, as the story moves we see
Santiago thinking about the fish and speculating the things that fish might be thinking
as “decides to stay an other night” it seems like the course of action is being set by him.
When the sharks first attacked the fish, Santiago thought he himself being hit, and when the bad
smelling scavengers attacked and devoured a large piece of flesh. Old man murmur, “I am sorry
fish” their relationship is very respected relation and both of them have common traits in them
like nobility, determination and respect for each other.
When marlin is mutilated by sharks it symbolizes the old man, who is ridiculed by the younger
fisher men and being considered very strange. Santiago’s defeat by sharks did not put an end to
his fishing, but gave him more courage and coinsurance.

Santiago’s Heroism

Santiago like Robert Jordon in “For whom the bell Tolls” demonstrates the
necessity and reality of Heroism in everyway. Robert Jordon believed on his
own activities and in his discipline. And Santiago as a humble fisherman
shows complete skill and adeptness in his art Hemingway shows him alone
with this thought that you must rely on your own resources.
When Santiago encountered with the big marlin he has faced many problems
like fatigue, cramps in his hands, lacking of youthful muscle but Hemingway
showed heroic courage, masculinity and vitality.
Hemingway relates many instances which showed Santiago’s heroic
bent of mind. As he
says “Everyday is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be
exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.”
And on the second day of his fight with the marlin Santiago hopes to be
“worthy of the great DiMaggio who does all things perfectly even with the pain
of the bone spur in his heal”.

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Throughout the whole novel we find that Santiago is a person who believed or
rely on his skill or art on his masculine power, Santiago admits that he
excels the marlin in two respects “tricks” and “resolution”. Tricks means
whatever resources man is capable of namely, his art Resolution means his
will to do whatever he was born far.
On the whole Santiago’s return with the big skeleton of the great fish which
means that winner takes nothing and Manolin’s report that Yankees have lost
that day Santiago replies, “That means nothing. The great DiMaggio is himself
again.” It shows that after a big loss Santiago is himself again.

Symbolism in the Old man and the Sea

The novel is rich in symbolism that enhances both the plot and the Themes. The major symbol is
the sea which stands liar all of life on which man must sail, in both the sea and in life, there are a
number of possibilities that lie hidden from the common eye; some are gifts to be treasured and
some are problems to be defeated. Neither will be found unless man embarks upon the journey.
If man is lucky enough to discover a treasure (be it love or family or education), he must tight
until death to retain it: if man is unlucky enough to discover an evil lurking underneath the
surface of the sea (any one of life’s varied problems), he must fight it bravely and nobly until the
end. In either case, it is the struggle that is all important, and a man obtains the status of hero if
he haulm the sea (life) with grace wider pressure. In the novel, Santiago embarks on
a sea journey (life) and encounters a giant marlin (treasure). He battles nobly to earn the
treasure and then fights the stalks (problems) to save it. The struggle defines him as a here. Even
though he loses the treasure (the marlin) to the sharks (the problems), he has won the sea battle
(life).
In addition, Santiago serves as a metaphor for the creative artist, someone like Hemingway
himself. He is capable in his profession, has proved his talent several times before, but that is
not sufficient. He has to prove it every day, for every day is a new day. Santiago’s suffering is
akin to artistic creation, which is never an easy task. Even and when a masterpiece is
achieved, there is no guarantee that critics, who are no less than the killer sharks, will not tear it
to pieces.
In addition, the novel abounds in the symbols of the lions, about winch Santiago frequently
dreams. Most of the time, the lions appear to he mere cubs, playing like young eats in the dusk,
and Santiago loves them as he loves Manolin, the cubs are symbols, of youthful possibility, a
foreshadowing of great things to come. The image of them always makes him happy; they
are good company, just like Manolin. When the lions appear in their adult majesty, they
suggest and signify great strength and nobility and provide Santiago with inspiration, a nobility
of purpose, and a sense of vitality that goads him toward fulfilling his ambition. More often than
not, the old man dreams of the boy and the lions almost simultaneously. Whenever the boy rises
in the old man’s thoughts, he is required to exert himself and prove his worth; whenever he
thinks of the lions, he relaxes, for they seem to be in control and inspire him to confidence

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Because the lions in his dreams always appear out of their natural environment and on the
beach, they suggest that there is a harmony in all of life.
Another recurring symbol in the novel is that of DiMaggio, the partially handicapped baseball
player, who often figures in the old man’s waking thoughts, as well as in his dreams. DiMaggio
inspires him with leadership qualities and the determination to win, in spite of handicaps. When
his left hand cramps and he feels drained of his strength, the old man reminds himself of the
painful bone spur that handicaps the great DiMaggio. The image of the baseball hero playing in
pain gives Santiago renewed vigor and stamina to bear his own pain.
In the beginning, the giant marlin becomes a symbol of the mysterious world of the unknown
that challenges everyone. For a large portion of the book, Santiago is pulled by this giant,
mysterious creature, and yet he does not know what it is or even what it looks like. The old man
can only imagine its strength, size, power and determination; yet he still identifies with it,
knowing it is part of the natural order of existence. When the old man actually sees the fish, he is
even more amazed at its grandeur and size. With the mystery solved, Santiago is determined to
show “what a man can do and what a man endures.”
The fish is also a symbol of Christianity, and Hemingway imbues the giant fish with several
Christian virtues kindness, patience, and determination. Although hooked by Santiago, the fish
does not panic or dive to the depths. Instead, it tries in guide its follower, to win him over. The
fish is also described as being a source of food for others, a sacrifice, so that others may live.
Unfortunately, the sharks, symbols of evil, cat away at the meat of the giant hash. Although they
devour the flesh, they cannot eat the skeleton or Santiago’s victory, which will both serve as
inspirations for Manolin and other fishermen.
The numeric symbolism in the novel also seems to h religious. Tree, seven, and forty are
numbers that have special significance in the Bible. As the story opens, the old man has
unsuccessfully fished with the boy for forty days, followed by another forty-four days alone. His
ordeal with the Beat fish lasts for three days, and then are three distinct stages in the
struggle. Santiago finally manages to kill the fish on its seventh turn. Then he must battle seven
sharks. His struggle with them is also divided into three sections. The sharks themselves
are portrayed as malevolent creatures and symbolize the deadly forces of evil that reign in
nature and life. The sharks seize the old man’s prize from him and leave him shattered and
shamed, just like sin can do in the world.
Finally, Santiago becomes a Christ symbol. Like Christ, he is filled with goodness, patience, and
humility. The forces of evil, however, are against Santiago, as seen when he battles the sharks;
similarly, Christ had to fight the evil in Jerusalem. Both men’s struggles end with shame
and humiliation. Christ is betrayed, beaten, forced to carry his own cross, and is crucified,
with arms outstretched and bleeding hands. Santiago is betrayed by the sharks and feels beaten.
Arriving home a dejected man, he carves his cross across his back, much like Christ carrying the
cross. When he finally lies down in his bed, his arms are stretched straight out with palms up,
and his hands are bleeding. It is an obvious reflection of Christ on the cross.
All of the symbols employed by Hemingway add to the basic theme that life is an endless
struggle with illusory rewards. In order to gain nobility in life, a person must show bravery,
confidence, courage, patience, optimism, and intelligence during the struggle. Then, even if the
prize is lost, the person has won the battle, proving himself capable of retaining grace under
pressure, the ultimate test of mankind.

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PLOT in the Old man and the Sea

The novel tells a simple story of a simple fisherman who is luckless enough not to each a
single fish for eighty-four days; he refuses, however, to be discouraged. On the eighty-
fifth day, he decides to venture far out to sea, hoping to change his bad luck. He is even
optimistic enough to believe that he may catch a big fish. In tune with the natural world
about him, he spies birds and plankton that lead him to a good fishing spot. He easefully
baits his hooks and patiently waits.
Santiago’s patience pays off. Something big takes his bait, and because of his skill, the
old man is able to hook it, beginning the adventure of the story. For three days and
nights, he does battle with this giant creature from the sea. For most of the journey he
does not even know what the is fighting, though he assumes it is a giant marlin. When
the magnificent fish fatally surfaces, Santiago is tremendously impressed with its size,
its beauty, and its nobility. He begins to identity with the fish, almost regretting that he
Wets compelled to kill it. He ties to justify his actions by saying that he is not fishing for
sport, but to feed himself and others.
Hemingway carefully develops the old man’s battle with the fish in duce stages: the time
before Santiago knows his adversary; the time when he realises just what a powerful
creature he must master; and the time when the fish starts circling and the old man
successfully brings it in for the kill. As Hemingway stresses the stages of this outward
journey of the fish that pulls the old man further and further from the security of the
shore to the unknown reaches of the sea, he also develops the inward journey
of Santiago. The old man must reach inside himself and come up with all his reserve of
strength, intelligence, and logic to win his battle against the mighty fish; it is truly a
display of grace under pressure on the part of Santiago.
In contrast to the first half of the book, characterized by a calm sea and Santiago’s
feeling of oneness with nature and the big fish, the second half of the book shows the
evil side of the natural world, symbolized by the sharks. Santiago hates them because
they are sly thieves and the deadliest creatures of the deep. In contrast to his regret over
killing the giant marlin, the old man delights in stabbing or clubbing each
shark. Santiago’s battle with the sharks is also developed in three stages, helping to
unify the plot.
Throughout the novel, the tastier is made aware of the old man’s noble suffering, his
practicality, his love for living and non-living things, and his extraordinary grit courage,
and determination. These characteristics, that he repeatedly displays in the midst of his
struggles, bind the story together. Charles Darwin, the eminent biologist, speaks of
straggle as an intrinsic part of the life of a human being, which results in the survival of
the fittest. In the old man’s saga of suffering, he proves that he is a fit man, not only in
physical t s but also in psychological terms. He survives where the normal man would
have crumbled. At the end of the book, he is truly a hero who has gone beyond normal

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human endeavor; and yet not marred by pride or greed, he humbly sees himself as one
who has been defeated by the sharks.

Foundations of Behaviour in the Old man and the Sea

Hemingway’s contention that what shows in The Old Man and the Sea is just
“the tip of the iceberg” seems a particularly accurate assessment of the
philosophical and socioeconomic foundations of his characters’ behavior.
Among the most obvious are the disparate codes that divide the fishermen
of Santiago’s village into two groups (as critics such as Bickford Sylvester have
pointed out.

One group consists of fishermen like fishermen, who respect nature and see
themselves as part of it. They rely on their skill and dedication to their craft to
participate in nature’s eternal pattern. These fishermen are part of a
traditional fishing culture that is insulated and isolated from the industrialized
world, bereft of modern technology, and bound to extended families and
tightly knit communities. These fishermen affectionately refer to the sea as la
mar (the Spanish feminine) and recognize both its great beauty a and its
occasional cruelty. As this group’s quintessential
representative, Santiago performs each fishing task with the precision of
a religious ritual and recognizes his kinship with all the living creatures who
share a common fate and nourish one another in natures eternal cycle.
The other group consists of younger, pragmatic fishermen, who exhibit a
profound disregard for nature. They do not rely on their own skill, but on
mechanisms such as motorized boats and fishing lines floated by buoys) to
ensure a steady income. These fishermen are part of the material progress of a
fishing industry, increasingly dependent on the industrialized world for their
livelihood, and much less bound to extended families and local communities.
These fishermen refer to the sea as el mar (the Spanish masculine) and
consider it a contestant or an enemy to he overcome. Their philosophy
informs behavior that robs the natural world and the dedicated fishermen of
intrinsic, less tangible values and spiritually satisfying meaning.
In the philosophical differences between these two groups, Hemingway never
implies that Santiago disdains economic security. His poverty, his occasional

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thoughts about winning the lottery, his musings that the marlin’s delicate-
tasting flesh would have brought a high price at the market, and so forth all
indicate how keenly Santiago feels his own economic circumstances. On the
contrary, these philosophical differences help underscore just how keenly
Santiago craves the intangibles that give life meaning, provide spiritual
enrichment, and ensure the redemption of the individual’s existence.
Closely connected to Santiago’s recognition of the philosophical differences
between the two groups are his Job-like musings. He wonders why sea birds
are made so delicate when the ocean can be so cruel, which recalls Job’s
question about why the innocent are made to suffer (as, of
course, Santiago himself is made to suffer). He also wonders why those who
let their fishing lines drift are more successful than he is, though he keeps his
fishing lines precisely straight, recalling Job’s question about why the
unworthy prosper. Santiago later answers both questions and more when he
considers whether killing the marlin was a great sin. He eventually decides
that he killed the marlin net for food, but because he is a fisherman. In his
understanding resides the echo of God’s, answer to Job. Essentially, Gods
answer was that suffering is in the very nature of the universe. Just as
enigmatic, Santiago’s own understanding is that he did what he had to do,
what he was born to do, and what his role in the eternal nature of things
demands. That acceptance is both God’s and Santiago’s answer to why the
good are made to suffer (why the sea birds are made so delicate,
why Santiago has gone for so long without a catch) and why the unworthy
prosper (why those who let their fishing lines drift are more successful).
As Hemingway makes clear, the pragmatic fishermen (like the scavenger
sharks with whom they’re associated) inevitably must prevail—at least for a
time and in accordance with the natural order that makes all creatures both
victors and victims. Yet the philosophy of the pragmatic fishermen also sows
the seeds of their own economic destruction. So readers may well infer that
Manolin will become much more than just the redeemer of Santiago’s
understanding of his personal experience at the story’s end. Manolin and
those who succeed him may well become the standard bearers of a philosophy
that eventually must come into its own again, though in a new iteration, after a
nearly universal pattern of socioeconomic change (familiar even today among
developing nations) has carved itself on the rural Cuban landscape.

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Themes in the Novella "The Old man and the Sea"

A commonplace among literary authorities is that a work of truly great literature invites reading
on multiple levels or re-reading at various stages in the reader’s life. At each of these readings,
the enduring work presumably yields extended interpretations and expanded meanings.
Certainly, The Old Man and the Sea fits that description. The novella invites, even demands,
reading on multiple levels.

For example, readers can receive the novella as an engaging and realistic story of Santiago; the
old man; Manolin, the young man who loves him; and Santiago’s last and greatest battle with a
giant marlin. Indeed, Hemingway himself insisted that the story was about a real man and a real
fish. Critics have pointed to Hemingway’s earlier essay—which mentions a presumably real
fisherman who travels far out to sea in a small boat, catches a great fish, and then loses It to
sharks—as the seed from which the novella springs.
However, the novella also clearly fits into the category of allegory’ a story with a surface meaning
and one or more under-the-surface meanings, a narrative form so ancient and natural to the
human mind as to be universal; a form found in pagan mythology, in both Testaments of the
Bible, and in Classical to Post-Modern literature. Likewise, the characters become much more
than themselves or eve types––they become archetypes (universal representations inherited
from the collective consciousness of our ancestors and the fundamental facts of human
existence).
From this perspective, Santiago is mentor, spiritual father, old man, or old age; and Manolin is
pupil, son, boy, or youth. Santiago is the great fisherman and Manolin his apprentice—both
dedicated to fishing as a way of life that they were born to and a calling that is spiritually
enriching and part of the organic whole of the natural world. Santiago, as the greatest of such
fishermen and the embodiment of their philosophy, becomes a solitary human representative to
the natural world. He accepts the inevitability of the natural order, in which all creatures are
both predator and prey, but recognizes that all creatures also nourish one another. He accepts
the natural cycle of human existence as part of that natural order, but finds within himself the
imagination and inspiration to endure his greatest struggle and achieve the intangibles that can
redeem his individual life so that even when destroyed he can remain undefeated.
In living according to his own code of behavior, accepting the natural order and cycle of life,
struggling and enduring and redeeming his individual existence through his life’s work, and
then passing on to the next generation everything he values, Santiago becomes an everyman (an
archetypal representation of the human condition). His story becomes everyone’s story and, as
such, becomes genuinely uplifting. As the tourists who mistake the Marlin for shark still
comprehend from its skeleton something of the great fish’s grandeur, readers of different ages
and levels of understanding can find something inspirational in this story—perhaps even more if
they dip into its waters more than once.

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Hemingway’s Style in 'The Old man and the Sea'

Hemingway’s writing style owes much to his career as a journalist. His use of
language—so different from that of, say, his contemporary William Faulkner–
–is immediately identifiable by most readers. Short words, straightforward
sentence structures, vivid descriptions, and factual details combine to create
an almost transparent medium for his engaging and realistic stories. Yet
without calling attention to itself, the language also resonates with complex
emotions and larger and larger meanings—displaying the writer’s skill in his
use of such subtle techniques as sophisticated patterns; repeated images,
allusions, and themes: repeated sounds, rhythms, words, and sentence
structures; indirect revelation of historical fact; and blended narrative modes.

In The Old Man and the Sea, nearly every word and phrase points to
Hemingway’s Santiago-like dedication to craft and devotion to precision.
Hemingway himself claimed that he wrote on the “principle of the iceberg,”
meaning that “seven-eighths” of the story lay below the surface parts that
show. While the writing in The Old Man and the Sea reflects Hemingway’s
efforts to pare down language and convey as much as possible in as few words
as possible, the novella’s meanings resonate on a larger and larger scale. The
story’s brevity, ostensibly simple plot, and distance from much of this period’s
political affairs all lend the novella a simplistic quality that is as deceptive as it
is endearing.
For example, Hemingway conveys one of the novella’s central themes by
repeatedly yoking religious conviction with a belief in luck. These repeated
images and allusions, juxtaposed so often, suggest more than an appropriate
sketch of Cuba’s Catholic culture, affection for games of chance, and passion
for baseball. Both religion and luck rely on ritual and have the power to
engender the hope, dreams, faith, absorption, and resolution that ultimately
take people beyond themselves. Supporting these repeated images and
allusions is the repetition of certain rhythms and sentence structures that
signal a kind or ritual or catechism for example, the conversations between
Santiago and Manolin or the description or Santiago’s precise actions in his
fishing or in laying out the fish that will nourish him.
Hemingway the journalist also relies on resonances from historical and factual
references to enrich the story and advance its themes—a technique used by
T.S. Eliot and James Joyce. For example, the novella’s many baseball

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references enabled critics such as C. Harold Hurley and Bickford Sylvester to

determine the exact dates in September when the story takes place; to infer a
great deal about Cuba’s cultural, economic, and social circumstances at the
time; and to establish Manolin’s exact age. These references do more than
provide background information, establish the story’s cultural context, and
advance the plot. These references also indirectly reveal the characters’
motivation, inform the dialogue, and uncover the story’s integral thematic
dimensions.
Hemingway also relies on blending narrative modes to achieve a shifting
psychic distance. The story begins and ends with a third-person, omniscient
narration that doesn’t dip into Santiago’s thoughts. The two parts of the story
that take place on land benefit from this controlled reporting. For example,
the poignancy of Santiago’s circumstances at the story’s beginning and the
tragedy of his defeat at the story’s end are not lost on readers, but instead
resonate within them without melodrama because of this psychic distance. On
the other hand, the part of the story that takes place at sea draws closer
to Santiago’s perspective by letting him talk to himself, by presenting a third-
person narration of his thoughts, or by drifting subtly from either of these
methods into a kind of interior monologue or limited stream of consciousness.
This perspective is essential to the story’s middle part at sea, which is an
odyssey into the natural world, a coining to grips with the natural order, an
acceptance of the inevitable cycle of life, and a redemption of the individual’s
existence. As the transition into Santiago’s thoughts seems logical and
intuitive because he is alone at sea, with no one to talk to, so does the
transition back out again because he returns to land so deeply exhausted.

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