Hemingway focuses more info the connections between Santiago and his natural environment: This connection with the sea and its creatures helps Santiago in the midst of his great tragedy.
For Santiago, success and failure are two equal facets of the same existence. They are transitory forms which capriciously arrive and depart without affecting the underlying unity between himself and nature. As long as he focuses on this unity and sees himself as part of nature rather than as an external antagonist competing with it, he cannot be defeated by whatever misfortunes befall him. Hemingway's treatment of pride in The Old Man and the Sea is ambivalent. A heroic man like Santiago should have pride in his actions, and as Santiago shows us, "humility was not disgraceful and it carried no loss of true pride" At the same time, though, it is apparently Santiago's pride which presses him to travel dangerously far out into the sea, Old Man And The Sea Themes Essay all people in the world," to catch the marlin While he loved the marlin and called him brother, Santiago admits to killing it for pride, his blood stirred by battle with such a noble and worthy antagonist.
Some have interpreted the loss of the marlin as the price Santiago had to pay for his pride in traveling out so far in search of such a catch. Contrarily, one could argue that this pride was beneficial as it allowed Santiago an edifying challenge worthy of his heroism. In the end, Hemingway suggests that pride in a job well done, even if link drew one unnecessarily into the situation, is a positive trait.
Hemingway's ideal of manhood is nearly inseparable from the ideal of heroism. To be a man is to behave with honor and dignity: The representation of femininity, the sea, is characterized expressly by its caprice and lack of self-control; "if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them" The representation of masculinity, the marlin, is described as 'great,' 'beautiful,' 'calm,' and 'noble,' and Santiago steels him against his pain by telling himself, visit web page like a man.
Or a fish," referring to the marlin In Hemingway's ethical universe, Santiago shows us not only how to live life heroically but in a way befitting a man. Hemingway draws a distinction between two different types of success: While Santiago clearly lacks the former, the import of this lack is eclipsed by his possession of the later.
One way to describe Santiago's story is as a triumph of indefatigable spirit over exhaustible material resources. As noted above, the characteristics of such a spirit are those of heroism and manhood.
Themes in The Old Man and the Sea; Full Glossary for The Old Man and the Sea; Essay Questions; old man, or old age; and Manolin is pupil, son, boy, or youth. Description and explanation of the major themes of The Old Man and the Sea. This accessible literary criticism is perfect for anyone faced with The Old Man and the. The Old Man and the Sea study guide contains a biography of Ernest Hemingway, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Free Old Man and the Sea papers, essays, his antagonist to symbolize overall themes of strength, perseverance, Old Man and Sea Essay - Perserverance. Sandra Effinger Block A1 11/09/ Santiago: Hemingway's Champion. In The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway presents the fisherman Santiago as the ideal man.
That Santiago can end the novella undefeated after steadily losing his hard-earned, most valuable possession is a testament to the privileging of inner success over outer success. Being heroic and manly are not merely qualities of character which one possesses or more info not. One must constantly demonstrate one's heroism and manliness through actions conducted with dignity.
Interestingly, worthiness cannot be conferred upon oneself. Santiago is obsessed with proving his worthiness to those around him. He had to prove himself to the boy: Now he was proving it again. Each time was a new time and he never thought about the past when he was doing it" And he had to prove himself to the marlin: Although it is unjust.
The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway) - Thug Notes Summary and Analysis
But I will show him what a man can do and what a man endures" A heroic and manly life is not, then, one of inner peace and self-sufficiency; it requires constant demonstration of one's worthiness through noble action. Manolin has an almost religious devotion to Santiago, underscored when Manolin begs Santiago's pardon for his not fishing with the old man anymore. Manolin says, "It was Papa made me leave. I am a boy and I must obey him," to which Santiago replies, "I know It is quite normal.
He hasn't much faith" Manolin's father forced his son to switch to a more successful boat after 40 days had passed without a catch for Santiago; this is the amount of time Jesus wandered in the desert, tempted by Satan.
Just as Christ resisted the temptation of the devil, Santiago resists the temptation of giving in to his exhaustion as he battles the marlin. You have to last. Don't even speak of it. Throughout this final section, Santiago repeatedly apologizes to the marlin in a way that provides another way to read Santiago's sin. He says, "Half fish Fish that you were. I am sorry that I went out so far.
I ruined us both" Santiago's transgression is no longer his killing of the fish, but going out too far in the ocean, "beyond all people in the world" While the former sin helped account for the inescapable misery of the human condition, the latter focuses instead on avoidable misery brought about by intentional action. Santiago chose to go out so far; he did not need to do so, but in doing so he must surrender his prize, the marlin, to the jealous sea.
This understanding of Santiago's sin is strange because it seems to separate source from nature in a way which contradicts the rest of the novella. Going out too far is an affront against nature visit web page Old Man And The Sea Themes Essay the hubristic folly of Greek tragedy; he has courted disaster through his own pride.
Nowhere previously in the novel was this apparent, though. The sea seemed to welcome him, providing him company and food for his expedition. There was no resistance from nature to his activities, except perhaps the sharks, but these were never made to be nature's avengers.
This reading of Santiago's sin thus seems very problematic. The relationship between Santiago and Manolin can be summed up in one sentence: Manolin is Santiago's apprentice, but their relationship is not restricted to business alone. Manolin idolizes Santiago but the object of this idolization is not only the once great though presently failed fisherman; it is an idolization of ideals.
This helps explain Manolin's unique, almost religious, devotion to the old man, underscored when Manolin begs Santiago's pardon for his not fishing with the old man anymore.
When Manolin asks to buy the old man a beer, Santiago replies, "Why not? And when Manolin asks to help Santiago with his fishing, Santiago replies, "You are already a man" By demonstrating that Santiago has little more to teach the boy, this equality foreshadows the impending separation of the two friends, and also indicates that this will not be a story about a young boy learning from an old man, but a story of an old man learning the unique lessons of the autumn of life.
Hemingway peppers the novella with numerous references to sight. We are told, for instance, that Santiago has uncannily good eyesight for a man of his age and experience, while Manolin's new employer is nearly blind. When Manolin notices this, Santiago replies simply, "I am a strange old man" Given the analogy between Santiago's eyes and the sea, one suspects Old Man And The Sea Themes Essay his strangeness in this regard has something to do with his relationship to the sea.
This connection, though, is somewhat problematic as it might suggest that Santiago learn more here have success as a fisherman.
Santiago's statement that his eyes adjust to the sun during different parts of the day furnishes another example of the importance of sight and visual imagery in the novella. Santiago says, "All my life the early sun has hurt my eyes, he thought. Yet they are still good. In Old Man And The Sea Themes Essay evening I can look straight into it without getting the blackness. It has more force in the evening too. But in the morning it is just painful" Given the likening of natural time cycles to human age, e.
September as the autumn of life, it is plausible to read this passage as a statement of the edifying power of age. While it is difficult to find one's way in the morning of youth, this task becomes easier when done by those who have lived through the day into the evening of life.
How is the figure of Joe DiMaggio used to emphasize Santiago's respect click here nature? As he struggles against the marlin despite the pain he suffers, Santiago recalls the figure of Joe DiMaggio, identified at the beginning of the novella as a heroic paragon.
It is strange, though, that immediately after valorizing DiMaggio, Santiago immediately diminishes the baseball player's greatness by thinking that the pain of a bone spur could not be as bad as the pain of the spur of a fighting cock. He even concludes that "man is not much beside the great birds and beasts. Still I would rather be that beast down there in the darkness of the sea" Nature, and the marlin especially, is privileged Old Man And The Sea Themes Essay even the greatest exemplars of human endurance.
What is the point of having the tourists on the terrace believe the skeleton of Santiago's fish is a shark? This scene illustrates the tourists' inability to understand or see what is before their eyes.
The skeleton is there for the viewing, but the tourists have no idea what they're seeing Throughout the last part, the boy cries several times. In my opinion, Manolin's tears come not just because of his love for the old man, but because he believed things would have been different had he been with him.
The Old Man and the Sea study guide contains a biography of Ernest Hemingway, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. The Old Man and the Sea essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. Transcending Heroism Chasing Fish: