From What Simple Things Come
Why is it that everything in life has to have a conflict? Whether it is good or bad, something has to trigger it. In The Old Man in the Sea, a character, named Santiago, fell into a conflict of inadequate proportions. He went out into the sea, searching to find something that might take his life complete, to maybe find some serenity. Not only did he find it, but there was a catch. Was Santiago strong enough to keep it? Was he strong enough to take on the beasts in the water?
Santiago caught a fish, not only the fish that he would have waited eighty-five days for, but a fish in such gigantic means that he could have waited a lifetime. All Santiago needed was a little hope and encouragement
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'He loved green turtles and hawk-bills with their elegance and speed and their great value and he had a friendly contempt for the huge, stupid loggerheads, yellow in their armour-plating, strange in their lovemaking, and happily eating Portuguese men-of-war with their eyes shut'; (36-7) 'He was sorry for them all, even the great trunk backs that were as long as the skiff and weighed a ton. Most people are heartless about turtles because a turtles heart will beat for hours after he has been cut up and butchered'; (37). Santiago had benign heart, and cared for all creatures, because he was so much like them. 'During the night two porpoises came around the boat and he could hear them rolling and blowing. He could tell the difference between the blowing noise the male made and the sighing blow of the female. ' They are good,' he said. 'They play and make jokes and love one another. They are our brothers like the flying fish.''; (48). It is that Santiago cares for these creatures so much because he has a heart like theirs and hands too. He is strong like them, and idolizes them all he can. They are friendship, admiration and courage are something that Santiago realized. They kept pushing to go a little further. But not all things turn out as
of weakness. The fearless fish circled the boat for hours. It was then that Santiago saw the size of
The quote, “Nothing happened. The fish just moved away slowly and the old man could not raise him an inch. His line was strong and made for heavy fish and he held it against his back until it was so taut that beads of water were jumping from it. Then it began to make a slow hissing sound in the water and he still held it, bracing himself against the thwart and leaning back against the pull. The boat began to move slowly off toward the north-west.”(44) creates in depth meaning into how the old man is strong because the fish possesses a determination equal in magnitude to Santiago’s. Santiago has a large amount of endurance, and is using it in the midst of following the fish. Another example of Santiago’s endurance throughout the novel is his strength with the physical pain he feels. For example, the old man has a lot of back pain while following the fish, and catching it, especially. “...”( ).........The old man also experiences physical pain when his hand is cramping and when it gets cut. The author states, “The old man would have liked to keep his hand in the salt water longer but he was afraid of another sudden lurch by the fish and he stood up and braced himself and
...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.
...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 fish withholds a great part in this book. The Old Man and the Sea is a book that’s about a small town where the residents revolve their lives around fishing. The fish is a symbol of beauty and it is a greatly admired creature to these people. An example from the book is on page 49. Santiago has been fishing for 84 days and decides not to return home without a fish on the 85th day. On the 85th day, alone in the boat, he manages to hook an enormous marlin, the biggest fish he's ever seen in all his life. The fish is larger and stronger than Santiago. Santiago's experienced fishing skills and his will to catch and survive push him to pursue the fish for many days and many miles out to sea.
Secondly, Santiago experiences material success because of the augmented physical strength he attains from the obstacles that he is forced to face. The old man is walking home to his shack after he returns from his strenuous journey, “He had to sit down five times before he reached his shack” (121). The old man is exhausted from his trip because he had spent so much energy catching the fish. Plenty of strength must have been gained from the exertion of this much energy. During the shark attacks, Santiago is optimistic about what good the bleeding from his hands will bring. “The bleeding may keep the left from cramping” (111). The old man is so strong that he uses the bleeding pain to suffocate a different source of pain. Not only that, but just the fact of keeping a positive attitude about a situation like this is a great accomplishment which can only be obtained from strength.
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...
Some argued that the novel’s theme was Santiago’s struggle, the friendship with the fish and other characters; Santiago’s perseverance and that he really ended up as a triumphant man. But to argue that those were also the main themes of the book is also a difficult thing to do. Even though Santiago fought and kept on with his struggle to catch the fish, he was defeated because he lost it at the end. Defeat, according to the Larousse Chambers English Dictionary, is when you are overthrown in a battle, you lose a game and therefore you don’t win: you don’t gain or reach your goal. As we can see Santiago, in spite of the fact that he persevered and struggled, starving, for three days lost the battle.
In the story, Santiago’s bravery is unsurpassed, but it is not until he hooks the “great fish” that we truly see his valor and perseverance. Through Santiago’s actions, Hemingway teaches the reader about bravery and perseverance in the face of adversity. He demonstrates that even when all is lost and seems hopeless, a willful heart and faith will overcome anything. Santiago had lost his “luckiness” and therefore the respect of his village. Through the description of his cabin, we also suspect that Santiago is a widower.
The Old Man and the Sea focuses its plot mainly on Santiago’s struggle against the marlin. Existentialism makes its appearance when Santiago chooses to pursue the marlin, stay with it the entire way, and fight tooth and nail at the end. “My choice was to go there to find him beyond all people,” is how Santiago explains his actions to challenge the fish (Hemingway 50). He mentions how he was born to be a fisherman, and by chasing the marlin, he will give his life the meaning for existence. Santiago also insists on staying with the fish until one of them is dead, which exemplifies his will to fulfill his goals in life. He endures obstacles such as nausea, cramps, and sleep deprivation because he does not want to give up and surrender his fate. When it comes down to the final struggle, Santiago pits all of the pain, strength, and pride he has left against the fish in order to bring it down. Despair begins to creep in when Santiago finds it hard to pull in the marlin, but he overcomes it with every ounce of will he has. He knows that it is up to him to create this important moment in his li...
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 main arguments in this source is the old man 's dependents on the boy, feminizing the sea and the respectful engagement of its feminine presents, and Interspecies kinship—brotherhood between man and animals, as well as with nature. The purpose of this source is to show the reasons why the old man feels defeat with old age. This source relates to The Old Man and the Sea because many times throughout the novel when Santiago was in the sea, he wished Manolin was there to help him because he has a rough time doing some things nowadays, but his old age still does not stop him from catching that
For three long days, the boat is alternating pushes and towed by the huge fish in an almost dream-like state. Only the killing os the fish and the attacking of the sharks interrupt the monotony. The monotony becomes one of the pressures that the old man must endure in order to maintain his grace. However, because Santiago never gives in to the monotony or the depression, he becomes the hero in the story against innumerable odds. His tenacious determination leads him to a sense of hope amongst the monotony and depression.
The relationship between animal and human in this text shows as a relationship of appreciation and respect. Santiago loves everything about being a fisherman. He is lonely at sea and his sea friends are his companions. He has great respect for the sea as well as the inhabitants that swim and live in it. He does not love all creatures of the deep, blue sea, however, does show respect for each one. Santiago has a particular relationship with the marlin. He comments that the marlin is “wonderful”, “strange”, “strong”, “wise”, and “that is fight has no panic to it” (Hemingway 48 -49). Based on his description of the marlin, Santiago loves and respects him as a worthy opponent and brother, “Now we are joined together and have been since noon” (Hemingway 50). Santiago is not only literally linked to the marlin, but also figuratively because the outcome of this battle will determine both their fates. The old man says, “The fish is my friend too,” he said aloud. “I have never seen or heard of such a fish. But I must kill him I am glad we do not have to try to kill the stars” (Hemingway 75). He starts to imagine impossible feats like killing the moon or the sun and feels lucky that his task, in relative terms, is much simpler. Although he is sad to kill the fis...
The old man and the sea is a novella about an old Cuban fisherman, Santiago, and his three-day battle with a giant Marlin fish. Throughout the novella, Santiago is portrayed in different perspectives. He is tough and refuses to give up at any time. He withholds the will to continue and the courage to overcome what is believed to be the impossible. His persistence and confidence, his absolute determination and his unique way of accepting the reality makes him a noble hero.