Ernest Hemingway's the Old Man and the Sea

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

Christian symbolism, especially images that refer to the crucifixion of Christ, is present throughout The Old Man and the Sea. During the old man’s battle with the marlin, his palms are cut by his fishing cable. Given Santiago’s suffering and willingness to sacrifice his life, the wounds are suggestive of Christ’s stigmata, and Hemingway goes on to portray the old man as a Christ-like martyr. As soon as the sharks arrive, Santiago makes a noise one would make “feeling the nail go through his hands and into the wood.” And the old man’s struggle up the hill to his village with his mast across his shoulders is evocative of Christ’s march toward Calvary. Even the position in which

In Hemingway’s novel, the battle between a person and nature is predominantly shown through Santiago’s desire to catch a Marlin while overcoming obstacles set by the ocean, such as fluctuating temperatures and dangerous Mako sharks. Although these physical barriers impacted the old fisherman greatly by causing him to sustain wounds, he overcame these complications through his unbreakable will and desire to capture the formidable Marlin and return back to Havana with his prize. While fishing for the Marlin, Santiago consistently talks with the sea creature whom he considered an equal and emphasized his determination to overcome nature through his prayer. Not once, but many times he prayed: “Christ, I did not know he was so big. I’ll kill him though…in all his greatness and his glory, I will show him what a man can do and what a man endures” (Hemingway 66). This promise repeated numerous times through Santiago’s struggle, clearly presents the strength of the old man’s mind and his will to win the battle. Likewise, in the movie Life of Pi a young boy is faced with many challenges from the ocean when he is forced to survive while combating the dangers of nature and attempting to control the animals that were placed in his raft. Once again, this conflict

In the novel The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway, there is a fish that the old man finally catches after 84 days, but is consumed by Mako shark’s in the process of reeling it in. Santiago, the old man, had a strong connection with the marlin even though he only saw him for a short period of time. They taught each other many things through a tug and war type of play. Catching a marlin fish was a goal of Santiago that he had been attempting to fulfill for a decent period of time, and after being persistent and patient, slowly but surely he was able to succeed. Many symbols in Hemingway’s novel have their own counterparts in my own life, which include a goal, hope, and idolization.

In the novel The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway uses the literary device of metaphors. Hemingway uses the metaphor of the ocean to symbolize life, and to depict the role that individuals play in life. Hemingway uses the metaphor of the lions to signify people who live their lives as active participants. The tourists in the novel represent the individuals, who in observe their lives and are not active participants. In the novels that Ernest Hemingway writes, he uses metaphors to reflect his life experiences and opinions. The ocean in The Old Man and the Sea is a metaphor, which represents Hemingway 's personal view of life. Hemingway believes that in life everyone must find their own niche and uses the metaphor of the ocean and the

In The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway uses Santiago to demonstrate some of the qualities of a Hemingway Code Hero. Throughout the novel, Santiago encounters many trials and tribulations that test his role as a code hero. While reading the novel one will see that Santiago endures many of the rules of a code hero. However, the ones he encounters the most are misfortune, honor, and courage. Hemingway uses these rules in his novel in such a way that one can fully understand the life of Santiago.

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.

Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea has engendered some lively debate in literary circles. Critics have concentrated on everything in the novella from the verity of Rigel's early evening appearance over Cuban skies in September (Weeks 192) to William Faulkner's judgment that Hemingway discovered God while writing The Old Man and the Sea (Bradford 158-62). Yet the most insightful commentary has gravitated invariably toward biblical, natural, and classical imagery in the novel. These images turn an otherwise simple fishing tale into a sublime narrative of human endurance. A reading that examines these images will serve to clarify the hidden significance in

“But man is not made for defeat," he said. "A man can be destroyed but not defeated. (Hemingway 103).” This quote, written by Ernest Hemingway in the short story The Old Man and the Sea, captures the theme perseverance in numerous ways. This quote describes when the old man Santiago was struck down physically, with the injuries of his hands and the pain of staying awake for a number of days. However, he mentally kept pushing forward, leading to his ultimate survival and his arrival home. Ernest Hemingway wanted the readers of this story to learn about the rewards of perseverance because of the hardship Santiago and the marlin had to endure, rather than themes such as luck, pride, and suffering.

The Old Man and the Sea has man tensions, ambiguities, and ironies that arise within the work which the work uses towards a particular theme. There are several themes that unify into one resolution. The Old Man and the Sea can be interpreted to discover how it functions as a self-contained, self-referential aesthetic object. This would be how the structural purpose of the text could be explored. The first step to this process is to find a confusing, unclear section within the text.

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 has a way of making his readers believe that the feats and strengths that his characters obtain in his novels are actually possible. Although this statement may be too critical, and maybe there is a man out there, somewhere on the coast of Cuba who at this very moment is setting out to the open sea to catch a marlin of his own. The struggle many readers have is believing the story of Santiago’s physical powers and his strength against temptation bring forward the question of whether or not The Old Man and the Sea is worthy to be called a classic. Hemingway’s Santiago brought Faulkner and millions of other readers on their knees, while to some, believed Hemingway

Many of Ernest Hemingway’s stories are either literally or figuratively based on his life experiences. The Old Man and the Sea is a novella written by the American author Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Bimini, Bahamas, and published in 1952. It was the last major work by Hemingway that was published during his lifetime. Its writing was influenced by his life around him. This is shown through the way the novella is written and key events and parts within it. The Old Man and the Sea can be interpreted as an allegory of Hemingway’s life and career at the time he wrote it.

The Old Man and the Sea’s foundational structure is the Hemingway Code Hero. The author, Ernest Hemingway, uses the Code’s themes of self-reliance, personal competition, and courage most productively throughout the book. 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 circumstance for a fisherman who depends on the fish for food and money. In addition to fishing for food and money, Santiago also wants to substantiate his claims that he is as competent a fisherman as the others. 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 is a character who may at first appear to deny the code, but upon further inspection is a proponent of the Code and everything for which it stands. Throughout his journey to prove himself, Santiago has to deal with numerous challenging situations, and despite this embodies the Code and chooses to keep relying on himself, to keep competing against others, and to continue being courageous despite being put in situations where it would be easy to abandon the Code.

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.