Religion In The Old Man And The Sea

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Religion has been used to give a group of like-minded individuals a sense of order and purpose. In Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, Christianity is used to justify the good morals of Santiago. The old man is compared to Christ because of his faith in the will of nature. In Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, religion is used to reveal poor morals. The eyes of God watch over the sinful people and judge them. In both novels, religion is used to justify the consequences of sinful action and praise those who act otherwise.
Hemingway depicts Santiago as a tired old man with no luck of providing for himself. The allusions made to Christ do not prove the old man to be strong or wildly heroic, but to be noble and true. The boy says to Santiago, "There …show more content…

However, each novel uses this differently in that one represents Christ, and one represents the followers of Christ. Hemingway takes a character depicted as a code hero, and considers him a Christ-like figure. The purpose of doing so being that it strengthens the reader's belief in Santiago. As a plain old man, he is moderately pitiful and sad. With insight to his courage and Christ-like characteristics, he is a character that is easy to watch struggle because there is faith that he will not be conquered. In The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald uses religion to stress the immoral acts occurring in the roaring ‘20’s. The whole novel showcases wild behaviors and restless attitudes, but it is the allusion that the eyes of T. J. Eckleburg stare over the Valley of Ashes with a "watchful vigil" (Fitzgerald 7). Religion is said to be used to sugar coat things and live loudly without consideration of reality. In the Valley of Ashes, there are no parties and there is no extravagant money to be flaunted and to help distract from reality. There is only sin that is laid out plain on the table, and these Godly eyes reveal the sinful nature. Both novels use the same religion to highlight characters and plots, but Hemingway uses it to showcase a single character's most godly features, while Fitzgerald uses it to expose a large group’s

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