The Hemingway Code Hero and The Old Man in the Sea

The Hemingway Code Hero and The Old Man in the Sea

The Old Man and the Sea is a beloved novel because of the style in which Hemingway writes, his idea of a hero, and how he applied it affectively. The code for his heroes way in which they act with courage, always strive to prove them selves one more time, not to complain about their suffering. The writing techniques brought the story in to full multimedia life by letting the reader see what is going on. Finally, the way it all just seems to fit together in the end.

The Hemingway code is an idea of what all heroes have in common. In the words of Irving Howe, "There emerges...the characteristics hero of the Hemingway world: the hero who was wounded the bears his wound in silence who is sensitive to but scorns to devalue his feelings into words who is defeated but finds a remnant of dignity in an honest confrontation of defeat."(232) This code is a code of honor to all who attain it. Even in today's life we can find this hero. Take a fireman, there is a fire ripping a building to shreds with its furry. The firemen come in to the blazing wreck insuring that they will get burnt. Bearing their wounds in silence. When they save the last family in that building they would cheer and go on how brave he was and he would think of it as a days work. But, if he did not save that last family member he would find pride in not having all the family members died in the building. What is the Hemingway Code? It’s had the fear of death on your back but you will still fight on. And, even if you do not completely finish the task you still find pride in what you did.

One of Hemingway’s best novels was The Old Man and the Sea fore it was a story of skill. Santiago, the hero, is an elderly man tanned and wrinkled from fishing all his life and from that he is skilled with the art of the task. “He kept {the lines} Straighter than anyone did, so that at each level in the darkness of the stream there would be a bait waiting exactly where he wished it to be for any fish that swam there.”(32) This alone shows how precise he was about fishing, proving his skills of a fisherman. If he did not keep the lines straight down they can all be at the same level. Then, only the fish around that one level, which would a shallower part of water, could smell and maybe take the bait. At that if it was in shallow water where the ...

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... hero, and how he applied it affectively. The code for his heroes way in which they act with courage, always strive to prove them selves one more time, not to complain about their suffering. The writing techniques that brought the story in to full multimedia life by letting the reader see what is going on. In conclusion, this book is perfect.

Works Cited

Butterfield, Herbie. “Ernest Hemingway,” in American Fiction: New Readings. (1983): 184-199. Rpt. In Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Richard Gray. Vol 41. Detroit, Gale, 1985, 456-457.

Fiedler, Leslie. “The Death of the Old Men,” in his Waiting for the End. (1964): 9-19. Rpt. In Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Carolyn Riley. Vol. 3. Detroit, Gale, 1975, 232-233.

---. “An Almost Imaginary Interview Hemingway in Ketchlum.” In Partisan Review. (1962) Rpt. In Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Carolyn Riley. Vol. 3. Detroit, Gale, 1975, 232-233.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1952

Howe, Irving. A World More Attractive: A View of Modern Literature and Politics. (1963): 65-70. Rpt. In Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Carolyn Riley. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, 1975, 232-233.