The Old Man and the Sea
Ernest Hemingway
The Old
Man and the Sea” is very famous and discussed novella of Hemingway. It tells
the story of the old man named Santiago. He is a fisherman- an unlucky
fisherman and yet a winner fisherman. The novella says about a lonely
fisherman, who has strong willpower to struggle and to win in the fight.He said
that
“A man is not made
for defeat.”
Santiago has nothing but a broken-down shed
and a rickety skiff with a sail that is “patched with flour sacks” and looks
“like the flag of permanent defeat.” The skin of his gaunt body illustrates his
hardships and is marked with deeply-set wrinkles, scars, and blotches from the
punishing sun. And because of his terrible misfortune, he is a pariah in his
small fishing village.
But while nearly
“everything about Santiago is old,” his eyes remain “the same color as the sea
and are cheerful and undefeated.” Instead of throwing in the towel after 84
days of terrible luck, he sails farther out into the Gulf than he has gone
before.
A man continues to do
whatever he must do to the best of his ability, no matter what tribulations
befall him. While challenges and setbacks can strip a man of all outward signs
of success, still his spirit can remain undefeated. For it can will a man to
never give up and to keep on trying.
Or as Hemingway puts it: “A
man can be destroyed but not defeated.”
A man does not depend
on luck.
Luck plays a major role in
the story and in our everyday lives, and to a superstitious lot like fishermen,
poor luck can seem paralyzing. In Santiago’s little Cuban fishing village he is
labeled “salao, which is the worst form of unlucky,” after having gone
eighty-four days without taking a single fish.
This makes him a
outsider among his peers, and it costs him his trusty partner, the boy Manolin,
whose parents forbid him from fishing with the old man. While Santiago deals
with the suffering of being hungry and poor, other boats from his village
continue pulling in good fish every day.
Anyone can have luck of
course, but not everyone one can have determination, skill, and perseverance.
Santiago knows this and therefore believes in his ability rather than chance.
“To hell with luck,” he thinks. “I’ll bring the luck with me.”
He does this by not
taking any shortcuts in his work. He keeps his fishing lines straighter than
anyone, and he makes sure that, “at each level…there [will] be a bait waiting
exactly where he wishes it to be for any fish that swim there.” Santiago keeps
his lines with precision, and he is ready for whatever comes.
We cannot attain success
simply by waiting for good things to happen. It is when we strive forward
towards a goal that we open ourselves up to opportunity. As Santiago muses, “It
is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when the luck comes
you are ready.”
A man bears pain and hardship
without complaint.
“He was shivering with the
morning cold. But he knew he would shiver himself warm and that soon he would
be rowing.”
Whether it’s something as
trivial as being cold or as significant as skirting along the borders of death,
a man simply does what must be done, without self-pity and without complaint.
Santiago does not whine about hunger pains or thirst, nor does he mope about
the fishing line that cuts into his hands.
Out at sea, far beyond the
other boats, Santiago is presented with the greatest challenge of his life. It
comes in the form of an eighteen-foot marlin and makes for a long, long battle
that spans days. Near the edge of his exhaustion, Santiago’s hand is cut deeply
and cramps up “as tight as the gripped claws of an eagle.” He washes the cut in
the salt water and lets it dry and warm in the sun. But the hand refuses him
and he is forced to work with his right hand alone, against the powerful fish
that is two feet longer than his own skiff. Drained, Santiago “settles against
the wood” and simply “takes his suffering as it comes. He is comfortable
but suffering, although he does not admit the suffering at all.”
A man does not boast.
The quality of a man is best
seen through his actions, and developing humility is a key ingredient in
letting our actions do the talking for us. Santiago is given plenty opportunity
to boast during a conversation with his young friend, Manolin, but he does not.
Manolin asks, “Who is the
greatest manager, really, Luque or Mike Gonzalez?”
“I think they are equal.”
“And the best fisherman is
you.”
“No. I know others better.”
“Que va,” the boy says, “There
are many good fishermen and some great ones, but there is only you.”
“Thank you. You make me happy.
I hope no fish will come along so great that he will prove us wrong.”
And it’s only because of Santiago’s
determination that none do. Boasting only briefly satisfies insecurity. It
leaves no lasting impression on the crowd who hears it.
A man finds inspiration from
others.
“But I must have confidence
and I must be worthy of the great DiMaggio who does all things perfectly even
with the pain of the bone spur in his heel.”
For Santiago, it is “the great
Joe DiMaggio” who inspires and motivates him. He possesses traits that Santiago
admires, reminding him that to be successful you have to put all of yourself
into a task and bear up under difficulty. Looking up to others–having
heroes–provides us with examples to follow, the knowledge that others have
overcome obstacles as well, and the assurance of the great possibilities of a
man’s life.
superb
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