Moving Past Triumphs and Tragedies in Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea

As one of the greatest writers in history, Ernest Hemingway is known for writing many novels and novellas with important messages. Hemingway was also known for his courage and bravery during his lifetime. He was a soldier in the First World War, the Spanish Civil War, and the Second World War. One of his most famous books, The Old Man and the Sea, won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954 and is based on the true story of an elderly Cuban fisherman. There are many lessons that are in the book, but perhaps the most important that Hemingway wants to convey is to never give up and be persistent in reaching your goals, even if things seem hard. He conveys this message over the book with various characters and one important quote, “A man can

“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

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

Manolin admires Santiago, and is always there to help and take care of him. Santiago thinks of Manolin as his own son, and is his only hope to carry on his legacy. THESIS Hemingway uses Santiago’s relationship with Manolin to convey that when you pass down your knowledge and lessons about your experiences of life to your child or student in order to help them with their own journeys throughout their lives, your legacy will continue to live on. PREVIEW To support the concept of living on through one’s legacy, Hemingway uses examples of archetypes of the wise old man, with Santiago teaching Manolin how to fish, when the student Manolin states his memories of fishing with Santiago, and resurrection with Santiago’s conversation with Manolin about luck and suffering.

The text leading up to the old man hooking the Marlin shows how much Santiago loves to fish. It is obvious that he is very skilled and that he takes it seriously. Santiago’s lines are always straight and he notices small things like the way a bird circles. He also takes the weather and sun’s position into account. These details show how significant fishing is to Santiago and how fishing is truly his profession. He is obviously a skilled fisherman and his bad luck seems very unjust. This also makes you understand Manolin’s respect for him and makes the old man seem more like a hero and less pity for him. Seeing fishing as a profession is different and intriguing for me, because I normally think of it as a recreational activity. The way it is

In this novel the old man fights and faces many obstacles that seem to have a gratifying effect on every aspect of his life. The old man is getting to old physically to do the things he done when he was young. The old man often dream about seeing lions, reminiscing on his past “He was asleep in a short time and he dreamed of Africa when he was a boy and the long golden beaches and the white beaches” (Hemingway 150 ). The old man is young at heart. Santiago is the soul that is stuck inside the old man. This is the biggest obstacle the old man will face; himself. Santiago is the young , active and outgoing side of the old man. The old man is very fatigue. Throughout the story we see both versions of the man stuffle against another. Santiago must overcome pride to progress as a fisherman. Its very hard to understand

While Santiago has a rocky reputation among the villagers, the narrator views him as a wise old man that is facing a bad few months. The narrator, like Santiago himself, is confident that the old man will soon regain his luck and have a successful fishing

In “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway, Santiago is an old man who catches an enormous fish after an unfortunate streak. He shows incredible strength in all that he does. His perseverance is what kept him going to break his unlucky streak. Santiago is sometimes prideful which lead him astray. Santiago is a strong, perseverant, and prideful man.

He tries to reel it in but he can't. Instead the fish is pulling the boat! He struggles and struggles with the fish for hours. After a while fatigue takes it's toll as his hands clamp up, and his back aches from the line tied around it. The fish surfaces and Santiago realizes that it is longer than the boat he is on! An unexpected jerk leaves a gash in his hand only to add to his pain. After a very long while Santiago shortens the line to harpoon it. He latches the fish to the side of the boat and begind to tow it back to shore triumphant. Then a mako shark approaches and takes a large bite out of the marlin. Santiago kills it with a harpoon. Only later did he realize that the sharks blood would attract more sharks. As more sharks approached Santiago fought with all his might to save his fish but there was too many sharks. By the time he got to shore, he had nothing more than a skeleton. Santiago collapses from exhaustion on the shore but is found by Manolin and calls for help. The community marveled at the size of the skeleton that is still attached to the boat. Manolin takes care of the old man and vows to return to him as an apprentice. Santiago finally gets the repect from his community.

The nobility of character of the old man prevents him from feel hate and rancor toward the other fishermen. Despite the taunts of the other fishermen, Santiago is quiet and admits having a bad streak of luck. This makes him an honorable man, which avoids any conflict and is able to recognize his flaws as a fisherman. Although the sea has given him several bitter drinks, he is able to keeping on loving it. “A man is honest when he acts honestly, he is humble when he acts humbly, he loves when he is loving or being loved.” (Waldmeir 165). Perhaps, the crowning act of humility in Santiago is when he is forced to recognize that by his own forces he will not be enough to grab the fish, and decides to carry out prayers to the Almighty. At the end of the hunting of the big animal, Santiago does not become conceited. His simple and humble soul thanks with a prayer for the outcome of his effort. Although the fighting has been severe and bloody, the old man was not self-styled "hero”. Santiago humbly considers himself as one fisherman more, and the categorization as a hero depends on the readers. “It is the knowledge that a simple man is capable of such decency, dignity, and even heroism, and that his struggle can be seen in heroic terms, that largely distinguishes this book.” (Young 131). The evident relation between his humility and dignity helps to place Santiago as a perfect

Santiago is a great fisherman even without being younger and stronger like many great fishermen are. “There are many good fishermen and some great ones. But there is only you” (Pg.23). This shows that even as an old man santiago is a great fisherman not just in the way of his skills but to others like Manolin. He is able to catch the

The beginning of The Old Man and the Sea is primarily structured around the relationship between Santiago and Manolin, a young boy who used to work with the old man on his daily fishing expeditions. A father-son relationship is developed between the two through their dialogue, and as a result, one can begin to notice an interdependence between both characters. However, Santiago has not lost sight of his first characteristic quality - self-reliance. Self-reliance, as defined by terms of the Hemingway Hero "code" can be witnessed in various forms. It may be displayed in isolation, the rejection of charity and payback of debt, or through a skillfulness in a particular area, such as fishing

The old man and the Sea is a very popular novel written by famous novelist Ernest Hemingway. Its major events take place in the 1950’s in a small Cuban fishing village. The major events of the novella are narrated to the readers by a wise narrator who has all the knowledge about the characters of the novel. The third person narrative of the narrator is mostly focused on the actions of the Santiago and his assistant Manolin. The novel is a simple piece of art with multiple meanings. Different kinds of people can easily relate to different themes narrated in this novel.

In the past, Santiago was revered as a great fisherman, a local legend. He knew many tricks, and was very patient and strong-willed. Once his unlucky streak started up, however, his reputation was more or less thrown to the wolves. Hemingway even says on Page 11 that many of the other fishermen made fun of Santiago, and on Page 9 that it had been 84 days since he had caught anything (“He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.”). Less than halfway into that stretch Manolin’s parents had even forced him to go and

Characters: The main characters in this book are Santiago (the old man), Manolin (the old man’s sidekick), and the marlin (the fish the old man catches). Santiago goes on a much needed fishing trip, and finds out a lot about himself during this small escape. Manolin shares these moments with Santiago, while providing him with a good companion during the trip. One other character that played a part in the story is baseball great Joe DiMaggio, whom