What Is The Theme Of Heroism In The Old Man And The Sea

Hemingway Review 21.1 (2001): 78+. Literature Resource Center. Web. 13 Jan. 2013. Pratt covers the time-period between 1952 to the present and chronicles his own efforts to define and explain Hemingway’s use of religious allusion in his fiction. Pratt begins to correlate symbols in The Old Man and the Sea to the bible. For example, he mentions how Santiago refers to Saint James, who was a great fisherman who is also considered by some religions to have been the brother of Christ. He continues by explaining how the skeleton of the fish, a universal Christ symbol, is given to Pedrico, translating to Little Peter, to “chop it up and use in fish traps” (124). He concludes by stating that if people are not very careful to resolve universal paradoxes, they may well act like Hemingway’s ignorant tourists at the end who, knowing none of the details or the history of this symbolic struggle, mistake the skeleton of the marlin for that of its evil opponent, the shark.

“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

The Old Man and The Sea, is a tale of an old man named Santiago who is a fisherman. He hasn’t had any luck with fishing, resulting in the other town members viewing him as a lame old man. A boy who used to fish with him inspires to change up his usual fishing tactics resulting in him catching a great huge fish. After fighting the fish for a couple days in his tiny boat he ties it to the side, headed for shore. On the way in sharks eat his entire catch leaving a skeleton to show for his work. The reader can see a clear metaphor painted by Hemingway. The fish

'What 's that? ' she asked a waiter and pointed to the long backbone of the great fish that was just now garbage waiting to go out with the tide. 'Tiburon, ' the waiter said, 'Shark. ' He was meaning to explain what dare grapple happened. 'I didn 't know sharks had such handsome tails. ' 'I didn 't either, ' her male companion said." (page 109) these two tourists who speak are hardly differentiated from the group to which they belong. They are all metaphors for individuals who are spectators of the human scene rather than participants in its activity. They see, but they see without fully comprehending. They are only faintly curious, only passingly interested, only superficially observing, they have not been initiated into the mysteries that Santiago understands. These tourists live their lives as tourists, skimming the surface of life, without resolution or clarity. Their life reflects that of all people who live their lives ashore, who dare not grapple with the mysteries of the ocean, or of life. This is the type of life that Hemingway always tried to avoid, to the point of his taking his own life. Hemingway uses metaphors to reflect his opinions of life and the people that he has met in life. The metaphor of the sea symbolizes all of life and the roles that people must choose to have in life. The lions are a metaphor for the

Hemingway personifies the sharks to counteract the Marlin after being killed, as their presence of stalking the Marlin tests Santiago’s diligence. In the story, Santiago’s industrious efforts pay off, as he attains the long awaited Marlin. Far from home, the old man makes the treacherous return to society, shortly confronting numerous sharks, all for which he doesn't respect comparative to the Marlin. When two sharks begin attacking, Santiago shares his adverse notion towards the sharks as “They would hit a man in the water, if they were hungry, even if the man had no smell of fish blood nor fish slime on him” (108). Furthermore, the old man's depiction of the sharks delivers as a connotation of their lack of pride, as they feed upon what Santiago’s diligence caught. As far as his efforts go, he returns to the favela with nothing but a skeletal shadow of what was, however Santiago feels his journey was not one wasted, more so a figurative paramount of respect and patience. Although, the sharks took what they could from Santiago’s pride, he stuck to what was important deeming the sharks actions invalid. In society sharks have become the lower end of the stick, and I have myself, understood that I have my own sharks. As for me, my sharks come in many external and internal forms, however my greatest shark is those who doubted my ability to succeed. When I suffered from

The novel written by Ernest Hemingway tells the story of an old fisherman named Santiago (referred to as "the old man") and his quest of catching a fish. Unfortunately, the old man has been down on his luck and has been fish-less for eighty-four days. The next time the old man leaves for a fishing trip, he sets sail farther than any fisherman has ever gone before, and he refuses to go home until he has proven to himself and to society that he is more than an average old man. However the old man is forced to overcome many challenges on his quest. His old age hinders him drastically and when he is finally able to get a fish on his line, he is not strong enough and is unable to reel the fish in. On the third day of the fishing expedition as the old man continues to struggle with the fish (a large marlin), he begins to reflect on the nature of the universe and his low place in society. The old man begins to feel pity for the fish, however also feels an unflagging determination to kill

Throughout The Old Man and the Sea , Santiago’s connection with nature is a favorable one . He considers his “principal friends” to be flying fish , refers to the marlin as brother , and is sympathetic towards the treatment of the turtles due to his feelings that they have similar hearts . However , this relationship does not stay consistently pleasant . His marlin is demolished by shovel-nosed sharks , who symbolize the aggressive side of nature . They counter the marlin , who Santiago felt was a worthy opponent , and are able to destroy his success . Yet they do provide a challenge that he again faces with resolution . Without the sharks , Santiago’s determined mindset of reaching his goal , even if it results in death , would not be reinforced .

The Old Man and The Sea is more than a book about a fish and an old man, it teaches us strength and never giving up on ourselves. The Old Man and The Sea is written by Ernest Hemingway about Santiago, The Old Man. Hemingway is a writer known for his iceberg themes in his novels, where ten percent of its message is what you read and the ninety percent is hidden. That ninety percent is up to interpretation. My interpretation is Hemingway’s The Old Man and The Sea he expresses the idea of staying humble no matter the consequences through the struggle Santiago has with the greatest catch of his life. I believe that Hemingway wishes he was Santiago, because he is a kind, humble and sober old man.

Throughout the journey, Santiago encountered many struggles and hardships, however he never gave up. Throughout The Old Man and the Sea Hemingway wants to show Santiago’s perseverance and Santiago as Christ. Santiago is faced with many struggles throughout his journey of catching the marlin yet he preservers through his struggles. Santiago was once known as the champion fisherman by locals, however he had not caught a fish for eighty-four

In The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway writes about an old man in Havana, Cuba. The main character of this book, Santiago, was once a great fisherman and well-known man in Havana. With his glory days of arm wrestling and great fish behind him, Santiago struggles to survive with an eighty-four day period without fish. Despite his vast troubles, he continues to travel to sea every day. Pride, Santiago’s greatest strength but also his most fatal flaw, leads to his defeat.

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

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’s short fiction is quite simple. A Cuban fisherman, Santiago, after eighty four days’ fished a very big marlin, approximately “eighteen feet from nose to tail,” but in all its size it took the old man three days to conquer his brother (122). On his way home, he and the marlin were attacked and although the old man fought furiously against the sharks, he was not victorious in warding off the thousands of frenzied razors. It can be interpreted that the marlin is the antagonist, but in fact the marlin is a companion and a similar character to the old man, revealed by his thoughts on the voyage, “Never have I seen a greater, or more beautiful, or a calmer or

“Hemingway’s greatness is in his short stories, which rival any other master of the form”(Bloom 1). The Old Man and the Sea is the most popular of his later works (1). The themes represented in this book are religion (Gurko 13-14), heroism (Brenner 31-32), and character symbolism (28). These themes combine to create a book that won Hemingway a Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and contributed to his Nobel Prize for literature in 1954 (3).