18 Foot Marlin

While other fishermen reel in boatloads of fish, the old man is lucky to feel so much as a tug on his line. He spends some time fishing with a young boy, but after months of bad luck, the boy’s parents no longer allow him to fish with the old man. It is for this reason that he decides to journey far out into the sea, aiming to catch a fish so huge it renders the other fishermen speechless. After venturing miles away from the course, the old man finally feels the pull of a large fish on his line; so large, in fact, that he does not have the strength to reel it in. However, he is determined to capture it no matter how long it takes, telling himself, “You better be fearless and confident yourself, old man” (Hemingway 84). He does his best to remain strong and optimistic throughout his time at sea. With much patience, he allows the marlin to guide his boat through the rippling waves of the ocean for days on end. When it finally tires out, he is able to kill it and reel it in, leaving an accumulation of blood in its place. Knowing this could mean trouble, he begins to head back to shore as quickly as possible, blood trailing behind him. To his dismay, despite his efforts to avoid them, the sharks sense the blood in the water and approach his boat. Each time a shark appears, he is eventually able to fight it off, but not before it can take a portion

Ernest Hemingway had many great accomplishments in his historical life but one event sticks out from the rest. The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingway’s most enduring works. Told in Language of great simplicity and power, it is the story of an old Cuban fisherman, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. Here Hemingway recasts, in strikingly contemporary style, the classic theme of courage in the face of defeat, of personal triumph won from loss. Written in 1952, this hugely successful novel confirmed his power and presence in the literacy

On the eighty-fifth day, Santiago decided to go out further in the ocean than other fisherman to finally catch a marlin. After Santiago hooked the marlin he endured the greatest struggle of his life. The marlin Santiago caught was very strong against him. Santiago describes the marlins strength when he said, “Fish,” he said softly, aloud, “I’ll stay with you until I am dead.” (Hemingway 52)

In the novella, The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago is an unlucky fisherman who has not caught anything in 84 days.  Yet he sets out alone on the 85th day to try again.  For three days he struggles with a large marlin which he finally kills; but, despite his best efforts, he loses the fish to repeated shark attacks.

“He did not truly feel good because the pain from the cord across his back had almost passed pain and into dullness that he mistrusted.”(74) Once both the fish and Santiago had reached the breaking point of conflict the story seemed to slow down in time to exemplify the adverse conditions that both characters were suffering from. The old man proves himself worthy of personal suffering with the cuts and scars on his hands and back along with all of the pulling and slipping the cords had upon his fragile body. Hemmingway shows in a big way how an out of proportioned conflict with an old fisherman and an 18 foot long marlin helps to magnify the significance of Santiago searching for his rebirth to manhood. With constant abstraction describing the fish and the sea in relation to brotherhood create interesting questions for Santiago to ponder. His rationalization for his fishing is that he was born to do it. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” (103) Hemmingway proves that this fish represents all of Santiago’s built up tension to total the size of a gigantic marlin that is perceived as devastating but not unconquerable. The old man’s hopes and aspirations can overcome the adversity of the marlin’s size, along with the conditions of the old, hungry, and exhausted fisherman. Through outright suffering Santiago achieves a goal above his previous manhood by combating pain and

The novel written by Ernest Hemingway tells the story of an old fisherman named Santiago (referred to as "the old man") and his quest of catching a fish. Unfortunately, the old man has been down on his luck and has been fish-less for eighty-four days. The next time the old man leaves for a fishing trip, he sets sail farther than any fisherman has ever gone before, and he refuses to go home until he has proven to himself and to society that he is more than an average old man. However the old man is forced to overcome many challenges on his quest. His old age hinders him drastically and when he is finally able to get a fish on his line, he is not strong enough and is unable to reel the fish in. On the third day of the fishing expedition as the old man continues to struggle with the fish (a large marlin), he begins to reflect on the nature of the universe and his low place in society. The old man begins to feel pity for the fish, however also feels an unflagging determination to kill

In the novel, one was able to tell of the courage it took to kill the marlin. One can contrast this with Santiago’s killings of the sharks, which took little to no courage to do.

Hemingway personifies the sharks to counteract the Marlin after being killed, as their presence of stalking the Marlin tests Santiago’s diligence. In the story, Santiago’s industrious efforts pay off, as he attains the long awaited Marlin. Far from home, the old man makes the treacherous return to society, shortly confronting numerous sharks, all for which he doesn't respect comparative to the Marlin. When two sharks begin attacking, Santiago shares his adverse notion towards the sharks as “They would hit a man in the water, if they were hungry, even if the man had no smell of fish blood nor fish slime on him” (108). Furthermore, the old man's depiction of the sharks delivers as a connotation of their lack of pride, as they feed upon what Santiago’s diligence caught. As far as his efforts go, he returns to the favela with nothing but a skeletal shadow of what was, however Santiago feels his journey was not one wasted, more so a figurative paramount of respect and patience. Although, the sharks took what they could from Santiago’s pride, he stuck to what was important deeming the sharks actions invalid. In society sharks have become the lower end of the stick, and I have myself, understood that I have my own sharks. As for me, my sharks come in many external and internal forms, however my greatest shark is those who doubted my ability to succeed. When I suffered from

The relationship between man and the sea has been recognized throughout time by many, including simple fishermen like Santiago. Hemingway describes Santiago’s time out at sea in his novella, “The Old Man and the Sea”, which is set in a small, coastal, Cuban town.Despite his lengthy time on the ocean, Santiago is unable to keep the marlin that he worked so hard to capture.The work of the sharks left Santiago unable to bring his prized catch back to his home. Throughout the story, the theme of man’s connection with nature is explored as Hemingway focuses on the bond that Santiago shares with

Over and over again he is remarked to be a strange old man, and he himself is the one to glorify that. He seems to struggle with the fact that he must prove himself to the other fisherman who mock him and believe him to be a fallen hero. He sets off to sea in his boat one day, but what he does not know that it will be the three most tiring days of his life. He first catches a smaller fish and instead of turning back, he decides to go farther out into the ocean to see what he can catch with that fish. He soon is dragged all over and back by a shiny purple marlin, that is two feet longer than his skiff. The response to Santiago’s poor decision or lack of creativity to harpoon the marlin instead of try to kill it another was as to not attract mako sharks was confusing. He is shown to be a man of intelligence and greatness, yet his decision to kill the marlin in this manner knowing what could happen proves that he had a distinct motive for harpooning the fish. By the words of Gery Brenner, “that motive is self validation-the need to prove himself”(Brenner 55). In the end, after the three day struggle, when Santiago returns to the dock, he is told by Manolin later that he was said to be lost at sea, and everyone was completely taken away by the length of the mangled carcass that he brought in. The take many get from Hemingway’s novel is

Another important aspect of Santiago’s personality is his optimism and resilience. Although not associated with all transcendentalists, the ability to view events in a positive light is very important for a Transcendentalist to possess. Thoreau describes this attribute as being the way in which we see the beauty all around us, by taking the bad and viewing it in a positive manner. Santiago does exactly this by always accepting the hand he is dealt. After days out at sea in a very painful position, he states, “He did not truly feel good because the pain from the cord across his back had almost passed pain and gone into a dullness that he mistrusted. But I have had worse things than that, he thought. My hand is only cut a little and the cramp is gone from the other. My legs are all right. Also now I have gained on him in the question of sustenance.” (Hemingway 74). Santiago feels that his injuries are not important, as he has experienced worse pain and what is more important to him at the time is catching the fish. Later in the book, after he finally catches the huge fish, it gets eaten by sharks on his way back to shore. Unlike a typical

The Old Man and The Sea, is a tale of an old man named Santiago who is a fisherman. He hasn’t had any luck with fishing, resulting in the other town members viewing him as a lame old man. A boy who used to fish with him inspires to change up his usual fishing tactics resulting in him catching a great huge fish. After fighting the fish for a couple days in his tiny boat he ties it to the side, headed for shore. On the way in sharks eat his entire catch leaving a skeleton to show for his work. The reader can see a clear metaphor painted by Hemingway. The fish

In the story The Old man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway, there is an old fisherman named Santiago who lives in a small village in Cuba. The story takes place in the Gulf Stream of Mexico which is the place the old fisherman fishing on his boat. He has not caught a fish in eighty-four days and become an unlucky man. Manolin, a young boy who is his partner has been going to another boat because of his parent's wishes. The old man decides to go to the sea to catch a fish. Finally, a huge marlin bite the hook, but he cannot pull it on the boat because the marlin is too strong. He struggles with the marlin for three days in the middle of the ocean. That marlin is the largest marlin he has ever seen. After he wins the battle, he puts it on his boat,

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway is built upon the central idea of the Hemingway Code Hero. Specifically, Hemingway uses the Hemingway Code themes of self reliance, personal competition, and courage most effectively throughout the book. As Arvin R. Wells puts it “The old fisherman fishes as much for a chance to prove himself as he does for a living, and, though he fails to bring the giant marlin to market, he wins the supreme chance to prove himself in the terms he best understands (56).” Santiago, a Cuban fisherman and the main character of The Old Man and the Sea, has gone 84 days without catching a fish, a disastrous thing for fisherman who depends on the fish for food and money. Because of this it would be easy to give up the Code in exchange for relief, but despite being put in situations where it is easy to drop from the Hemingway Code, Santiago is still able to turn the situations around and choose to keep relying on himself, still competing against others, and still being courageous.

Within the book, strong and enduring Santiago battles the marlin for days, although he has nothing but his hands to hold the line, and, then, fights against the fish with his knife and his old hands. When the Mako shark comes and eats the flesh of the marlin that is tied to the side of the boat, Santiago continues to fight for the marlin; however, the shark takes much flesh from the marlin. The sharks symbolize destruction in Santiago’s life; however, The Old man perseveres as Hemingway pulls out his thoughts, “But I killed the shark that hit my fish, he thought. And he was the biggest dentuso that I have ever seen. And God knows that I have seen big ones.”(pg103) Here, Hemingway exemplifies that even when the Old Man has experienced destruction, he overcomes