The Old Man And The Sea Allusion Analysis

In The Old Man and the Sea Earnest Hemingway uses allusion in his novella about an old fisherman and his battle with a huge marlin. The old man, Santiago, had gone 84 days without catching a fish. Manolin, who was an older boy that loved him and Santiago had taught him how to fish. He wanted to help Santiago and go fishing with him but his parents would not let him because Santiago had so much bad luck also known as “salao, which is the worst form of unlucky.” (page 1) One day the old man went fishing and he went very far out from the shore. Then he was on a 3 day journey with a marlin he had hooked, but was not able to reel it in because the fish was so great. For 3 days the fish pulled Santiago in his small skiff further and further away from his home in Havana, Cuba. When the fish had finally died Santiago had an even tougher time just trying to get the fish back home to sell it because he was very poor and in need of money. In the novella the numbers 40 and 3 appear numerous times as

For instance Jesus is the way, the truth, and the light and Jesus brought three people back to life. Three days after Jesus was crucified he resurrected and stayed and visited among the Apostles for another 40 days. “There will be bad weather in 3 or 4 days.” (Page ) Santiago thought this as he was with the fish (also for three days). While Santiago is out at sea he says “I wish the boy were here” or “If the boy were here” nine times throughout the story. When Jesus was dying on the cross at the 6th hour there was darkness and it lasted all the way to the 9th hour. This happened over a span of three

The importance of the numbers 40 and three impacted the novella. The events that happened in the story are very similar to Jesus’ life. Manolin and Santiago have a comparable relationship to Jesus and