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.
Throughout the constant struggle between Santiago and the fish, he is forced to prove his skills as a fisherman and conduct his discipline to retain his
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“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
Sometimes people have to do sacrifices, which appears in the rising action of the book. “‘Fish,’ he said, ‘I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before the day ends’” (Hemingway 54). Why did he have to kill it? Why couldn’t he hold on a little longer? Santiago sacrifices the fish for his self interest. In spite of the fact that he respects the fish, the old man’s determination reflects his belief that his purpose in life is to be a fisherman, and that comes first. As well, Santiago advises himself that he doesn't have Manolin, his beloved companion, with him and must battle against the fish by himself. It has been four struggling days of being pulled by the huge marlin, Santiago decided that that was enough. Even though
Another conflict exists between Santiago and the other, younger fisherman. They suppose that Santiago is salao because he has not caught a fish in eighty four days. They are doing no respect him as a result of he is old and unlucky. They do not acknowledge or fear his ability. In fact, they ridicule him. This affects Santiago’s confidence and isolates him more. Santiago doesn't have any friends apart from the boy because no one respects him. Once Santiago comes back from his trip with the large marlin carcass with shark bites in it, they understand that Santiago has nice ability and determination for his age and that they begin to respect him. When the old man tells the story, he reveals that being honored is very important to him. His pride
Santiago is a man who surely has shown his dedication to his craft of fishing, which also shows his persistence. Throughout the entire novel he fights the overcome the various circumstances in his life and yet uses these struggles to grow as a person. Ultimately, Santiago is a great example in literature of perseverance no matter the circumstances.
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
While talking to the boy before his embarkation, Manolin describes Santiago to be stronger than any other fish or fisherman, but Santiago knows that he is not as strong as he once was: “I may not be as strong as I think,’ the old man said. ‘But I know many tricks and I have resolution” (23). Even though Santiago knows within himself, that he is not capable of doing everything he used to be able to do, he knows that he has an advantage over any fish, and that is his intelligence. Santiago is honest enough with himself to know that he is not invincible, but that is not a reason for him to stop fishing, and shows how he lives according to his integrity and
Ernest Hemingway writes many great novels. The Old Man and the Sea is no different. In this novel the main character Santiago makes changes. He is an old man who has caught many fish in the past ,but recently has had trouble catching something worthy. This old man changes physically, and more importantly, mentally throughout the book . At the end of this novel, Santiago becomes much more mature and humble. One can see these changes that Santiago makes with three major events of the story.
There is another battle waiting for santiago when he is sailing home of his prey. It is a fight against sharks, a much fiercer one than before, Shark always are the horrible animals in the sea, its are strong and has a very keen sense of smell for blood. When the old man kills the marlin with harpoon that make the sea red with blood and also attract the sharks. The old man’s fight with sharks can be divided into four stages.
“There are many good fisherman and some great ones. But there is only one you” (23). The boy loves Santiago. While younger and better fisherman mock Santiago, the boy is Santiago's discipline. He thinks Santiago is in his very own league for fishing. The book by Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea, is about an old fisherman and the greatest catch of his life. He has been out on sea for eighty four days empty handed and returned with nothing. Santiago, the old fisherman was forced to have his friend known as the boy leave so he can fish in a better boat. Each night Santiago returns, the boy would take care of him and help him with all the fishing routines. On the eighty fifth day, Santiago sends his skiff far out then it has ever gone before hoping for one more chance to catch the big Marlin. Santiago through his journey never gave up because he was always determined. According to Ernest Hemingway, a hero should be stoic, going beyond others, and full of pride.
Although a hand cramp may seem superficial, to a fisherman who constantly uses his hands, a hand cramp can be debilitating to his work. Therefore, Santiago’s injury truly affects his ability to reach success, yet he struggles and endures by battling through this painful handicap. This exemplifies how Santiago is faced with many hardships through which he must struggle in order to display his perseverance, similar to when the sharks attack. While Santiago is finally on his way home after catching the fish, he experiences numerous shark attacks from a myriad of predators that tear the Marlin to pieces. When Santiago is faced with the sharks, he has the option to either give up or fight for his goal; Instead of backing down, Santiago remains hopeful and defends the marlin to his best ability, despite knowing that the sharks will eventually destroy it. This demonstrates how Santiago’s journey is circuitous, yet he preserves in order to ultimately
Hemingway uses the old man’s fishing lines to represent Santiago’s fragile sense of security. The main character “[keeps his lines] with precision… straighter than anyone” else (32). This action portrays
This tale is about external and internal conflicts; there are many internal and external conflicts in the novella. One of the main conflicts is that Santiago couldn’t catch the marlin. This is resolved by Santiago eventually catching the fish three days after he returned back to sea after he had an eighty four day unsuccessful streak; this solution is believable because he was determined to catch the fish which he did. A secondary conflict in this novella was that Santiago began to talk to himself because Manolin is no longer with him, also because he is isolated and unable to catch any fish for a long period of time. This conflict is resolved when he said ten Our Fathers and Ten Hail Marys which then made him feel better and helped motivate himself to catch the marlin. The reader can anticipate that many literary terms will relate to these conflicts.
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.
struggle to catch the big fish, yet also he poses as a role model for Santiago
Ernest Hemingway poured his own traits and personal touches to his moving piece of work, and by doing this he created heart-touching original characters that will make you think deeper and darker. The novella entails a story of an Old Man going on a strenuous fishing expedition miles off the coast of Cuba for the course of three days and three nights. Sadly, the battle is lost over the Old Man losing his catch and bringing home only its bones. Over the length of the novella, the Old Man becomes enlightened by the ever-changing world around him and the crippling thoughts that haunt him. Many minor details are disclosed only to leave the readers wondering if all these details has a deeper meaning. Within the novella, Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway uses the diverse characters and events to symbolize the struggles in the life of the reality of growing-up.