The Old Man and the Sea
by Ernest Hemingway
(Themes)
The
Honor in Struggle, Defeat & Death
From the very
beginning of the novel, Santiago is depicted as a man, struggling against
defeat. He has taken 84 days without fishing, and will soon break his record of
87 days. The sail of his boat looks like a flag of permanent defeat. But
Santiago denies defeat at every turn. He pledges to go beyond the other
fishermen, where the biggest fish is sure to be. After three days of hard
struggle, he kills the marlin, breaking his record of 87 days, and also fights
with sharks, though he knows the fight is worthless.
As Santiago
stands against the creatures of the sea, some readers see this story as the
history of man's fight against the natural world, but this novel is the story
of man's place in nature. Both Santiago and marlin exhibit qualities of pride,
honor, and bravery, and both are subject to the same eternal law: kill or die.
When Santiago sees a weary bird heading towards the shore, he thinks that this
bird will definitely face the hawk. The world is full of predators. No organism
can survive the inevitable conflict, that will cause its death. According to
Santiago “man is not made for defeat . . . man can be destroyed but not
defeated.” According to Hemingway, death is inevitable, but the best men (and
animals) will refuse to give up in front of it. So, Santiago and the fish Will
struggle till death.
This novel state,
that it is possible to defeat this natural law of destruction. The imperative
of destruction, in fact, allows a worthy organism to prove itself by fighting
against destruction. In fact, a man can prove this determination over and over
through the worthiness of the opponents he chooses to face. Santiago finds the
marlin worthy of a fight, as he once found the great negro of Cienfuegos. For
these opponents, his admiration, love and respect turn into an equation of
destruction, as his destruction becomes the point of honor and bravery, which
confirms Santiago's heroism. However, at the end of the novel, Santiago is
destroyed, but not defeated. He emerges as a hero. Santiago's struggle does not
enable man to change his place in the world, rather, it enables him to fulfill
his most dignified fate.
Pride
as the Source of Greatness & Determination
There are many
similarities between Santiago and the heroes of the ancient world. In addition
to demonstrating terrifying strength, bravery, and moral certainty, those
heroes usually had a tragic flaw, which, although admirable, led them to their
eventual downfall. He is flawed, proud. If pride is Santiago's fatal flaw, he
knew about it. After the marlin is destroyed by the sharks, Santiago repeatedly
apologizes to his worthy rival, marlin. Santiago acknowledges, that he ruined
both himself and the marlin, sailing beyond the normal limits of fishermen. He
says to himself “Nothing …… I had gone too far. "
It is true, that
Santiago’s eighty-four-day run of bad luck is an affront to his pride as a
masterful fisherman, and that his attempt to bear out his skills by sailing far
into the gulf waters leads to disaster. For being full of pride, Hemingway does
not condemn his hero. In contrast, Santiago stands as proof that pride drives a
human being to greatness. As Santiago admits that he killed the mighty marlin
because of his pride, and by capturing the marlin, he turns his defeat into
heroism, thus, pride becomes the source of Santiago's greatest strength.
Without pride, that battle would never have been fought, or it would have been
abandoned before the end.
Santiago's pride
drives his desire to defeat the destructive forces of nature. Throughout the
novel, no matter how dire the circumstances are, Santiago shows an unsurpassed
resolve to capture the marlin and shore it up. When the first shark arrives,
Santiago's resolution is mentioned twice in only a few paragraphs. We are told
that Santiago was "full of determination, but he had little hope."
The author then states, "He killed the shark without hope but with
determination." Santiago faces every challenge: to bring the marlin to the
coast, and even to battle the sharks, he is willing to die. Although he returns
to Havana without his long battle-trophy, he now has knowledge of his pride and
manhood. Hemingway seems to suggest that victory is not a prerequisite for honor.
Instead, glory depends upon one having the pride to see a struggle through to
its end, regardless of the outcome. Even if the old man had returned with the
marlin intact, his moment of glory, like the marlin’s meat, would have been
short-lived. Santiago's pride and honor comes not from his fight but from his
pride and resolve to fight.
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