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The Old Man and the Sea’s Christian Symbolism
Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea was published in 1952, the last of his fiction stories to be published before his death in 1961 (Lombardi). The novella is still celebrated to this day as a riveting tale of man versus nature under the most dire of circumstances. The story’s protagonist, Santiago, is a man with supreme determination and hope. His battle with the great marlin is an illustration of human strength, physically and mentally, at its finest. These qualities about him, along with the decisions he makes throughout the novel, give him similarities to Christ, while other elements of Hemingway’s prose can arguably serve as Christian symbolism as well.
The Old Man and the Sea tells the story of Santiago, a very old fisherman, and his quest to catch a fish after eighty four days of failing to catch any fish at all. When his young apprentice, Manolin, is forced to abandon him by his parents, Santiago sets out farther than he has ever traveled at sea in hopes that larger fish will be available for catching. Not only does he spend several days fighting with a great marlin that he manages to hook before finally killing him, he also battles with hungry sharks, as well as his own body, which, at times, seems to be failing him.
One can make a Biblical connection to the prose on the very first page of the novella, which states that Santiago went forty days without catching a fish before Manolin was forced to abandon him, and then another forty days alone (Hemingway, 9). The number forty has a significance within the Bible, particularly when describing the struggle to survive. For instance, Noah in the book of Genesis sailed through a flood that wiped out most of the earth’s popu...
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...that the old man survived those long days at sea, and even caught the marlin successfully. Santiago’s credibility as a fisherman and survivor are restored. In this way, he is resurrected as a new, respectable man.
One could speculate that Hemingway alluded to the Bible in The Old Man and the Sea by design, possibly to show that the same virtues exemplified by Christ can be applied by anyone to help guide themselves through a dire situation. In any case, The Old Man and the Sea is filled with Christian symbolism from Santiago’s character, suffering, and the elements of nature that he battles during the ultimate adventure.
Work Cited
The New International Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978. Print.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.
Lombardi, Esther. “Ernest Hemingway Works.” About. n.p. n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2014
The Old Man and the Sea is novella written by Ernest Hemingway in 1952. It tells the epic journey and struggles of the old fisherman, Santiago, and his younger fishing partner, Manolin. The story goes into detail the day to day life struggles that a fisherman off the coast of Africa endures. The majority of the story focuses on one particular trip out sea. In life, one will go through a number of stages in life. Infancy, Youth , Adulthood, and Old Age are all key stages. As one grows, they mature through these various stages. When one reaches old age, there is often a lot of doubt surrounding their lives. Serenity, and independence are often the two most questioned. These are some questions that Santiago has to ask himself as well.
Santiago is a brave, unbelievably optimistic, and prideful man. Nothing in his life will shake his morals and his integrities. Even facing death he is like a turtle swimming through poisonous waters (37). After being dragged through numerous encounters that should have taken his spirit completely, his heart still beats like a turtle’s heart after butchering. No one, apart from Santiago himself, can defeat his cheerful, uplifting spirit. However, the elderly fisherman’s state of mind is too stubborn and strong in his ways to allow defeating himself. This in itself keeps readers going and encourages anyone reading The Old Man and the Sea.
Ernest Hemingway wrote The Old Man and the Sea to show how you can push through the hardest of times and still not be defeated. The story shows how an old fisherman overcame an unlucky slump with the support from a young boy that loved and helped Santiago named Manolin. Santiago fought through the discrimination of the other old fisherman and refused to give up. Through Santiago’s struggles when trying to catch the great marlin, he kept pursuing his goal. Through sweat and tears Santiago never gives up before accomplishing his goal. He endured the pain of slicing his hands on the fishing line many of times in return to pull up the biggest fish he had ever landed.
In The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman, pits his strength against forces he cannot control. We learn from Santiago's struggles how to face insurmountable odds with bravery and courage. Though we find an indifferent and hostile universe as Santiago's stage, his unwillingness to give in to these forces demonstrate a reverence for life's struggles. Santiago's struggle is for dignity and meaning in the face of insurmountable odds. His warrior-like spirit fights off the sharks full-well knowing the fate of his marlin. Santiago loses his marlin in the end, but his struggle to keep it represent a victory because of the dignity and heroism with which he carries out his mission. However, as Santiago acknowledges, he is almost sorry he caught the marlin because he knows the animal and he have a great deal in common as fellow beings in nature. However, he only caught the marlin "through trickery" (Hemingway 99). Santi...
...e on a fish like this," he said. "Now that I have him coming so beautifully, God help me endure. I’ll say a hundred Our Fathers and a hundred Hail Marys" (Hemingway 80). In addition, "he also promises to make a pilgrimage to a shrine, the Virgin of Cobre, if heaven does come through and deliver the fish to him, or at least helps him bring it in" (Auer 63). Santiago, an avid Catholic, reaches out to the Higher Power when he is pushed to his greatest moment of need and desperation.
The book, The Old Man and The Sea, written by Ernest Hemingway, tells the story about an old man and his trials and tribulations out at sea. It is a story about courage, steadfastness and most importantly, pride. Hemingway uses many literary devices such as repetition and contrast to give pride, something generally thought of as a negative trait, a new spin by turning it into a positive one. This positive trait gives the old man the determination and courage that he carries with him throughout his perils at sea.
“A man can be destroyed but not defeated”. In Earnest Hemingway’s novella The Old Man and the Sea Santiago, the old man, faced many difficult challenges. Whether it was fighting off sharks to catching a huge marlin Santiago showed that he will not be defeated. In this novella Santiago doesn’t show defeat in the first 85 days without a fish, when he has the marlin on the line, to when he tries to bring the fish back.
American writer Napoleon Hill once said, “Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle.” In particular, Ernest Hemingway’s short novel, The Old Man and the Sea is an allegorical story about life’s struggles and rewards. In this story, Santiago struggles a lot while at sea but in the end he comes out a strong man. On the surface the story seems to be about a man who struggles to catch a giant marlin and who struggles to protect the marlin against the sharks. But in the end Santiago learned to depend on his own abilities and keep his dignity, bravery and integrity while facing hardships and it strengthened his relationships with others.
The characters in The Old Man and the Sea are in actuality, major figures in the New Testament. Santiago is an old man, yet he had young eyes. No matter how defeated he was, he would never show it and he would look on the brighter side of things. In my mind, these traits make Santiago a god-like figure. Manolin, which translates into Messiah, is Jesus (Stoltzfus qtd in CLC 13:280). Santiago is the "father" who teaches his symbolic son and disciple, Manolin. After catching the largest marlin, Manolin will leave his parents in order to follow the teachings of Santiago, his master, just as Jesus did (Stoltzfus qtd in CLC 13:280). Pedrico is actually Saint Peter, Jesus' closest apostle and a great fisherman (Wilson 50). Peter helped Jesus fish for souls as Pedrico helped Manolin fish for food. Santiago gives Pedrico the head of the mutilated marlin which symbolizes Saint Peter as head of the Christian church and the first Pope (Stoltzfus CLC 280).
The Old Man and the Sea is a heroic tale of man’s strength pitted against forces he cannot control. It is a tale about an old Cuban fisherman and his three-day battle with a giant Marlin. Through the use of three prominent themes; friendship, bravery, and Christianity; the “Old Man and the Sea” strives to teach important life lessons to the reader.
The novella, The Old Man and the Sea, is about a fisherman, Santiago, whose life is approaching its conclusion and his final heroic struggle against a great marlin and evil sharks that ultimately devour his prize. Also, the story shows an irreplaceable relationship of an old man and a young boy with the use of dialogue. The plot of the story is effected by the author’s choice in the way he used syntax. The mood and tone were a whole topic itself, in which Hemingway
The great stories behind The Old Man and the Sea are what make it so wonderful. Because of this novels success released in 1952, it helped Hemingway ring in the Nobel Prize for 1954 for Hemingway (Hurse). He had a way of writing a good hearted, high spirited hero, who seemed in many ways to be at one with nature and himself. It is believed that Hemingway conjured up the character Santiago from a 92 year old man who crossed to Florida with other Cuban refugees (Baker 910). This makes sense considering Santiago is the main character, who is of old age. His characters although having many great qualities, still had struggles. Santiago is the man of hour, when speaking of The Old Man and the Sea. H...
The novella The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway was published in September 1952 and won a Nobel Prize. In the novella, Ernest Hemingway tells the story of an old fisherman named Santiago. Santiago lived in a village in Cuba and lives to catch a fish. The old man spends the days alone being dragged in a skiff by a large Marlin. While being dragged he also deals with wrist pain, weakness from the lack of sleep and lack of food. On his way back to the village, he loses the marlin to sharks. Even though he lost his marlin, the old man still returned feeling undefeated.
Poignant circumstances surrounded the composition of this novel, which bring out many of the above points. It is widely recognized that Hemingway was possessed of a turbulent personality and suffered from emotional depression. This was despite the fact that he enjoyed much critical acclaim. The Old Man and the Sea was written after a ten-year hiatus of public and critical approval. This period saw much of his work receive negative criticism in literary and journalistic circles. This affected Hemingway adversely and very deeply (Carey 9). Therefore, Hemingway's personal battle with seeming failure in his life's work and society's attendant criticism parallel Santiago's stoic resolve in the face of his neighbors' disdain. The author's struggles symbolically match those of Santiago and set the stage for the writing of this novel.
The Old Man and the Sea, was written by Ernest Hemingway. In the novella, the old man, Santigo and the young boy Manolin has a relationship that goes dar beyond friendship. They have a soul bonding relationship. The boy needs the old man as a teacher and the old man needs the boy was family. Hemingway creates a very powerful, poignant relationship between the old man and the young boy throughout his novella using dialogues.