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Ernest Hemingway Comparative Essay

Decent Essays

Ernest Hemmingway and Amitav Ghosh, both having completely different writing styles and ideas, seem to have an underlying similarity in how they view leadership and heroism. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway and Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh both show internal battles and undeniable fate within characters throughout each novel. In The Old Man and the Sea Hemmingway uses Santiago, the old Cuban fisherman, to represent internal transformation, renewed life, triumph, and defeat. Ghosh also represents similar struggles in Sea of Poppies through one of his most prominent characters Deeti. Hemmingway and Ghosh seek to first surpass and overcome internal struggle, secondly show leadership through the toughest situations, and lastly the …show more content…

Manolin reassures him by saying, “There are many good fisherman and some great ones. But there is only you” (32). Manolin reassures Santiago that he stands alone among fisherman, not because of luck but because of his respect and unity for the sea. After 84 days at sea with Santiago, Manolin returns home and Santiago is left to endure the rest of the trip on his own. His age made it seem impossible to catch a fish like he had in mind, but defying the odds Santiago catches his prize winning fish. In Sea of Poppies the first character to be introduced is Deeti. Much like Santiago she is fighting internal battles that seem to be unescapable. The young mother living by the Ganges roughly 50 miles east of Benares has no other choice but to grow poppies. This lack of choice has resulted in the poppies ultimately destroying and infiltrating her family life. She is given what is described to be an undeniable fate that seems impossible to get out of. Her crippled husband, Hukam, contributes tremendously to her actuality of life. Hukam, working in the opium factory, has shown Deeti a side of life she never wanted to know much less be part of. Internally she fights her fear of what the opium will destroy, and her fate. Confident and …show more content…

With all the characters from Sea of Poppies Deeti stood out once again. Her actualization of what was happening between her family, the opium, and the ship makes her separable from all others. She knew her fate, but did not let it define her. She saw everything as it was which gave her the upper hand in many situations. One situation in particular is when Deeti had suspicion that her mother-in-law drugged her with opium on the night of her wedding. She became pregnant even though her husband was ostensibly not able to have children. Hukam wearing a mask of lies would not confess, Deeti stated, “She would have liked to believe him, but looking at his enervated and listless limbs she found it hard to imagine that he had been capable of any great exertion the night before” (Ghosh 78). She knew something was wrong, and with her intuition and a bit of revenge she finally figured the mystery from her wedding night. With the knowledge and awareness of what was done to her it opened her eyes to a world and life she did not want to be apart of. Deeti’s self actualization is what essentially turned things around for her. Comparable to Deeti Santiago begins realizing the actualization of life as well. He knows he is too old to go out to sea, but continues to do what he set out to do. His realization after losing the Marlin makes Santiago stronger, but also a bit broken. He had been at sea for almost 84 days before

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