The Old Man and the Sea
-
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway was an American novelist
and short story writer. He won Nobel Prize in literature in 1954. Many of his
works are considered as the classics of American literature. He committed
suicide in the summer of 1961. Old man and the sea is a short novel. This was
the last major fiction work by Hemingway. It deals with the struggle of
Santiago and a giant fish Marlin.
Santiago is an old man and trying to catch a
fish from last 83 days. He went on fishing and finally he caught a Marlin which
is a huge fish. In this story there is a struggle between Sea and Santiago, and
Marlin and Santiago. If we observe the situation, we can say that,
Santiago – a man
with will power
The sea – Universe/
world
Marlin – Great achievement
/ opportunity
Sharks – Hurdle in
the achievements
There are symbols in the novel like mast
which is presented as the cross of Christ and when Santiago is walking with carrying
the mast it looks like the Christ is walking with his cross. The second is
Marlin which seems as the great warrior and which surrenders after a long fight
of two days. Next is baseball and the player Di Maggio which gives strength to
Santiago and reminds him his days of youth. In the novel whenever Santiago
tries to sleep, the same dream he saw again and again which has lions on beach.
Santiago was a fisherman and for him sea and beach was the symbol of freedom
and lions were the symbol of pride.
The novel contains themes like Death
and defeat, Sin of killing vs. Law of nature, hope and heroism, luck vs. Superstition
and honour in struggle. He continuously talks with the fish by saying that,
“Fish, he said, ‘I love you and respect you very much
but I will kill you dead”
His conversation with
the fish (nature) presents the struggle of life and achieving pride and honour.
As he said,
“But man is not made for defeat, A man can be
Destroyed but not defeated”
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