Essay on The Old Man and the Sea Outline

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:

While other fishermen reel in boatloads of fish, the old man is lucky to feel so much as a tug on his line. He spends some time fishing with a young boy, but after months of bad luck, the boy’s parents no longer allow him to fish with the old man. It is for this reason that he decides to journey far out into the sea, aiming to catch a fish so huge it renders the other fishermen speechless. After venturing miles away from the course, the old man finally feels the pull of a large fish on his line; so large, in fact, that he does not have the strength to reel it in. However, he is determined to capture it no matter how long it takes, telling himself, “You better be fearless and confident yourself, old man” (Hemingway 84). He does his best to remain strong and optimistic throughout his time at sea. With much patience, he allows the marlin to guide his boat through the rippling waves of the ocean for days on end. When it finally tires out, he is able to kill it and reel it in, leaving an accumulation of blood in its place. Knowing this could mean trouble, he begins to head back to shore as quickly as possible, blood trailing behind him. To his dismay, despite his efforts to avoid them, the sharks sense the blood in the water and approach his boat. Each time a shark appears, he is eventually able to fight it off, but not before it can take a portion

The forces of the universe have crucified both Santiago and the marlin.  We see this when Santiago carries his mast cross-like to his shack and the author's description of his exhausted repose "face down on the newspapers with his arms out straight and the palms up" (Hemingway  122).  Yet, through this struggle, through this pride that made him go far out beyond all people, Santiago learns the meaning of life in a meaningless universe is humility and love.  We see this expressed most clearly in his mentor-like relationship with Manolin.  Human solidarity and interdependence may not make a man any more capable of beating the forces of the universe, but they are sustaining as much as the courage and dignity with which Santiago faces life "the boy keeps me alive, he thought.  I must not deceive myself too much" (Hemingway  106).  Before coming to shore, Santiago recognizes he has gained humility and he is loved.  He is appreciative the other fishers will worry about him.  They bring him food and newspapers to

In both competitions, Santiago demonstrates a great sense of will power and perseverance. For example, the arm wrestling match was also a test of endurance, just like his battle with the marlin: “They had gone one day and one night with their elbows on a chalk line…the odds would change back and forth all night…but [Santiago would] raise his hand up to dead even again” (70). Similarly, he fights the fish for three long days and does not give up. After this twenty-four hour arm wrestling game, “everyone called him The Champion” (70). This defeat was important for Santiago because it proved that Santiago once had enough strength to beat the strongest man on the docks, who is implicitly compared to the marlin. It is also interesting to note that during this part of the narrative, Santiago also remembers another worthy opponent: Joe DiMaggio, another hero who shows an amazing strength of will that helps him overcome adversity. With this flashback, then, Hemingway establishes a sense of heroic virtues as spiritual rather than physical qualities.

“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

Santiago was very honorable in what he did. He wouldn’t even let himself borrow money, in fear that he would soon beg for it after that. In everything he did he respected his opponent and the challenge. He gave up arm wrestling out of respect for his hand and for his profession. It’s honorable to respect the world around you and your part in it, something Santiago did very well. Santiago goes eighty-four days without catching a fish, but he still gets up every morning and gives it his all. He never gives up, and persevering through trials is a very honorable quality. Even when defeat is imminent he fights on, killing many sharks. The sharks eat his whole fish, and he defends it every bite of the way.

In the novella, The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago is an unlucky fisherman who has not caught anything in 84 days.  Yet he sets out alone on the 85th day to try again.  For three days he struggles with a large marlin which he finally kills; but, despite his best efforts, he loses the fish to repeated shark attacks.

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.

Within the book, strong and enduring Santiago battles the marlin for days, although he has nothing but his hands to hold the line, and, then, fights against the fish with his knife and his old hands. When the Mako shark comes and eats the flesh of the marlin that is tied to the side of the boat, Santiago continues to fight for the marlin; however, the shark takes much flesh from the marlin. The sharks symbolize destruction in Santiago’s life; however, The Old man perseveres as Hemingway pulls out his thoughts, “But I killed the shark that hit my fish, he thought. And he was the biggest dentuso that I have ever seen. And God knows that I have seen big ones.”(pg103) Here, Hemingway exemplifies that even when the Old Man has experienced destruction, he overcomes

Following this, on one side of the debate, some critics believe that the primary theme of The Old Man and The Sea is pride. Admittedly, there are many scenes where pride is shown. Nevertheless, it’s critical to understand that pride was one of the many reasons why Santiago persevered so much. For example, Litcharts.com claims that, “After he kills the first shark, Santiago, who knows he killed the marlin "for pride," and wonders if the sin of pride was responsible for the shark attack because pride caused him to go out into the ocean beyond the usual boundaries that fishermen observe (Litcharts 1).” Although the quote expressed many examples of the theme pride, it shows perseverance even further. When the quote claimed that pride

     In conclusion, the hero figure of the novel is indeed the old man, Santiago. He is true, honorable and hard working. He takes nothing for granted and he takes a

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

Over and over again he is remarked to be a strange old man, and he himself is the one to glorify that. He seems to struggle with the fact that he must prove himself to the other fisherman who mock him and believe him to be a fallen hero. He sets off to sea in his boat one day, but what he does not know that it will be the three most tiring days of his life. He first catches a smaller fish and instead of turning back, he decides to go farther out into the ocean to see what he can catch with that fish. He soon is dragged all over and back by a shiny purple marlin, that is two feet longer than his skiff. The response to Santiago’s poor decision or lack of creativity to harpoon the marlin instead of try to kill it another was as to not attract mako sharks was confusing. He is shown to be a man of intelligence and greatness, yet his decision to kill the marlin in this manner knowing what could happen proves that he had a distinct motive for harpooning the fish. By the words of Gery Brenner, “that motive is self validation-the need to prove himself”(Brenner 55). In the end, after the three day struggle, when Santiago returns to the dock, he is told by Manolin later that he was said to be lost at sea, and everyone was completely taken away by the length of the mangled carcass that he brought in. The take many get from Hemingway’s novel is

Along with the Christian symbols woven throughout the novella, numerology also adds to the religious symbols in the book (Waldmeir 28). As the story opens, we are told that Santiago had gone eighty-four days without catching a fish (Wilson 119). If we add this to the three days covered by the book’s action, we get a span of eighty-seven days.