Comparing Handy's Views On The Old Man And The Sea

Throughout the whole book Santiago shows many signs of courage. In the beginning, Santiago gets in his boat and sails out into the sea. He usually stays near shore, like all the other boats. However, today “He elects to risk all by reaching beyond man’s reach by going ‘too far out”’ (a readers guide 192).   He is not a man with a lot of strength. He is very old and has to have someone help him do certain tasks. His hands are very brittle and there is times where he can not rely on them. They bleed and get stuck in the fist position when he does too much manual labor. Often times his left hand is what gives him the most trouble.  However, none of this ever stops him from doing what he believes in. Hemingway uses this quote to show readers that Santiago can still do anything he wants, “I will handle him with the right arm alone” (16). While his left hand is not much use, Santiago does not let that stop him from holding onto the line with only his right hand. In the end, after the fish dies he is finally on his way back home. With him being such full of courage “he did not need a compass to tell him where Southeast was. He only needed the feel of the trade winds” (Hemingway 27). He is not scared at all about getting lost. He knows exactly how to get himself home. He does not need anyone or anything telling him which direction he needs to travel. As he was relying on the trade winds he finally makes it back

Hemingway is known for his heroic code in his novels, and the Old Man in the Sea is no different. Throughout the novel Santiago experiences several moments of truth. He also demonstrates the way to stay composed when he finally catches a fish. Finally, Santiago is destroyed, but he will not be defeated. Therefore, through the whole novel Hemingway uses Santiago to express the ideals of manhood.

In the book The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway uses the flashback technique in order to characterize Santiago and develop key themes of the novel, such as Santiago’s connection with nature and what it means to be a hero. Hemingway employs several flashbacks as an effective technique that develops Santiago’s character as he recalls past occurrences in order to renew his strength of will. There are three flashbacks in particular that are critical to the development of this story. The first flashback describes a time when Santiago associated himself with the marlins. The second flashback occurs when Santiago arm-wrestled the town’s strongest

Even though he is an adolescent boy, Manolin loves spending time with Santiago. He loves to go out fishing with him but, his parents no longer will let him. The reason for this is because Santiago has not caught a fish for eighty-four days. As a result of this unfortunate occurrence, others deem Santiago the term salao, or the worst kind of unlucky. Knowing the struggle Santiago is facing, Manolin tries to help him in as many ways as possible. Manolin brings Santiago drinks, food and the newspaper so they can talk about baseball and the great Joe DiMaggio. In spending all this time with the old man, Manolin develops a form of respect for him. He comes to understand that despite the recent unlucky situations, Santiago remains hopeful as well as prideful. This is why Manolin looks up to the old man so much. “Santiago… I could go with you again. We have made some money. The old man had taught the boy to fish and the boy loved him” (Hemingway 10). Along with just loving Santiago for himself, Manolin also looks up to him because Santiago taught him how to fish. Manolin understands that he is a large part of Santiago’s life and feels honored and

The epic journey of “The Old Man and the Sea” describes struggle, discipline and manhood. The main characters relationships exemplify how faith and skill overcome man’s adversity during life on the sea. Santiago’s growing relationship with the boy idealizes his statute as a father figure and develops his integrity and values towards the boy. Hemmingway shows us how an old fisherman’s will to overcome the sea’s obstacles proves his manhood to himself and the young boy. His skills and knowledge of the sea provide a positive influence for the young boy to become a great fisherman someday.

Finding insightful commentary on the Santiago-as-Christ image is problematic at best. For instance, Joseph Flora's judgment that "The Old Man and the Sea illustrates the essence of Christian discipleship and does so in strictly biblical terms" (147) confirms perfectly the point that too many critics have overanalyzed the image of Santiago-as-Christ; this is far too reductive a statement to encompass the whole scope of Hemingway's superb novella. Yet we must acknowledge two facts about

Another component that stood out in the novel to make Santiago’s death appear evident was his image as a Christ figure. There were multiple times in the book that Hemingway compared Santiago to Christ. For example, when Santiago returns to shore, “he shouldered the mast and started to climb (121)”. This is similar to when Christ carried the cross bar on his shoulders up to Calvery. Santiago fell three times on his way back to his hut, as did Christ. Hemingway’s comparison of Santiago to Christ implies that Santiago will die just like Christ did.

Furthermore, the image of the old man struggling up the hill with his mast across his shoulders recalls Christ’s march toward Calvary. Even the position in which Santiago collapses on his bed—face down with his arms out straight and the palms of his hands up—brings to mind the image of Christ suffering on the cross. Hemingway employs these images in the final pages of the novella in order to link Santiago to Christ, who exemplified transcendence by turning loss into gain, defeat into triumph, and even death into renewed life.

It is ambiguous whether the old man succeeds or fails. At first, it seems that if Santiago has failed. “He sailed lightly now and he had no thoughts nor any feelings of any kind” (Hemingway 119). It is almost like he has lost everything that he has worked for. The old man accepts defeat as is, without mourning or grief Fortunately, after all the damage has been taken, he keeps fishing. He built some sort of relationship with the marlin, but was later broken. He has since moved on.

     In my opinion, Santiago represents the ideas of honor and pride. Pride can motivate a man to greatness and that is exactly what happens in this book. His sense of pride would not let him be defeated by the villagers and certainly not out on the boat while wrangling with the marlin for so long. He also upholds honor, which is especially apparent when he is fighting the marlin and doesn’t see it as just a fish but he views it as a worthy opponent. He also fends off the sharks trying to attack his prize catch because he has respect for it. Santiago is a very exceptional man and he stands for all things good.

He is an old fisherman who has “gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.”(9) He has been deemed “unlucky” by others in the community. Santiago’s is described on pages 9-14:

In Ernest Hemingway’s novel, The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago demonstrates the traits of the code hero. The Hemingway’s code hero covers the principal ideals of honor, courage, and endurance in a misfortune life. Throughout the novel, Santiago shows a contrast between opposite attitudes and values which associate his behavior with the guidelines of the code. In this case, the depiction of conflicting values, such as dignity despite humility, perseverance despite despair, and victory despite defeat are aspects that help to describe and understand the role of Santiago in the novel, and reflect the reason why this character is perfectly suited to the heroic conduct established by Hemingway.

     Hemingway's view of human nature was that happiness was rare and was found within a man and not in his outside circumstances or surroundings.  Hemingway illustrates this in three ways.  First, he portrays the human nature of Santiago, the main character, as being one of humility and compassion, full of strength and pride.  He is shown not as a gleefully happy man, but one who meets life with a serene, quiet resilience.  Second, Santiago's fellow villagers are shown as shallow and materialistic, with a narrow view of life compared to his.  Their focus on appearances is in sharp contrast to Santiago's focus on intrinsic values.  Third, it will be shown that his rare

Throughout the book, The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway uses a writing style known as stream of consciousness which entails using uninterrupted thoughts and feelings of the main character. This writing style shows through the character Santiago while he is at sea. Santiago talks to himself which essentially correlates to how he feels at that moment. The usage of the technique stream of consciousness engages the reader into how the character feels during that moment making the reader connected to the character. Hemingway uses this technique to its fullest in the novel when the author shows Santiago talking to himself about DiMaggio and to then eventually thinking that he wanted to be the marlin.

Santiago of The Old Man and the Sea is the quintessential “Hemingway Hero”-a type of fictional character created by Hemingway in all of his books whose basic response to life appealed very strongly to the readers. The Old Man begins the narrative with all the elements of such a hero despite his senescence and poverty. He shows strength, determination, and dedication to himself despite his struggles. Santiago relates back to readers as a strong failure who picks himself up repeatedly.