Ernest Hemingway’s ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ is a moving novel that portrays human will and the dignity of life through the solitary struggle of an old man.
Work Introduction
‘The Old Man and the Sea’ is a novella published in 1952 by American novelist Ernest Hemingway. It was first published in Life magazine, and due to its explosive reception, it was released as a book within a week. It won the Pulitzer Prize the following year and contributed to Hemingway’s 1954 Nobel Prize in Literature.
This novel depicts the story of an old man fishing off the coast of Cuba, rendered in Hemingway’s characteristic concise yet powerful prose. The author’s philosophy, style, and skill are condensed within its short length. The narrative unfolds through alternating first-person protagonist perspective and omniscient author perspective. The old man’s inner psychological struggle as he battles the giant fish with unyielding will is conveyed through the first-person viewpoint, while the surrounding plot developments are narrated through the omniscient author’s perspective.
Hemingway is renowned as an author fascinated by people who prove their worth by challenging and battling nature. When a marlin longer than his boat strikes, the old man tests his limits, reeling in the line until his hands bleed. Alone on the vast, empty sea, he wages a solitary struggle against himself, the fish, and the ocean, ultimately achieving victory.
This work contains the author’s interpretation of life. The sea can be seen as symbolizing the reality in which human life unfolds, the fish as representing life’s goals, and the sharks as hinting at the trials encountered in reality. By portraying the protagonist overcoming his own limits through courage and will in an epic manner, the author testifies to the meaning and dignity of human life.
Synopsis
Santiago, an old man fishing in a small boat in the Gulf of Mexico, has caught no fish for the past 84 days. He had a young apprentice named Manolin. Manolin’s parents, believing the old man was unlucky, sent the boy to work for another fisherman. Still, the boy respected the old man and served him, helping to organize his fishing gear and bringing him food.
On the 85th day, the old man went out to the open sea and finally caught a huge marlin. The fish was so enormous he couldn’t haul it onto the boat. Instead, the fish was pulling the boat. For two days, the old man held on with all his strength, supporting the line. On the third day, mustering his last strength, he pulled the fish close and killed it with his harpoon, ending the long struggle victoriously.
But as he hauled the fish back to the boat, its blood attracted a pack of sharks. The old man fought desperately against the sharks but couldn’t defeat them all. In the end, the sharks devoured the fish, leaving only the bones. The old man returned to port dragging only the bare bones of the fish.
When the old man fell into a deep, exhausted sleep, the fishermen in the harbor gathered around the marlin’s bones, murmuring. They mistook the bones for those of a shark. The boy, relieved that the old man was safe, burst into tears and brought him newspapers and coffee. While the old man slept again, dreaming of lions, the boy sat motionless beside him, guarding him.
Character Introduction
Santiago (The Old Man)
The protagonist of this novel, an old man who fishes with a small boat in the Gulf of Mexico. He has no family and lives alone in an old shack overlooking the beach. He is thin and worn-out, yet possesses the distinctive toughness of a seafarer. He has an indomitable will that knows no defeat and feels deep affection for the boy, for nature, and for the fish he catches.
Manolin (The Boy)
A boy who has been learning to fish from the Old Man since he was five, working as his deckhand. Though forced by his parents to work on another boat, he helps the Old Man daily by hauling gear, bringing bait and food. He and the Old Man mainly talk about fishing and baseball. He sincerely respects the Old Man and wants to learn much from him.
Work Commentary
In the history of world literature, it’s hard to find an American writer who enjoyed such widespread popularity as Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961). Often called “America’s Shakespeare,” he was not only a literary genius but also an iconic figure symbolizing American literature and, more broadly, American culture. In other words, he was the Elvis Presley of the American literary world. Just as one cannot discuss American popular music without mentioning Presley, one cannot discuss American literature without mentioning Hemingway. Thomas Carlyle famously declared that William Shakespeare could not be exchanged for the entire Indian subcontinent. Similarly, many Americans would likely argue that Hemingway could not be exchanged for the entire state of Alaska or the island of Hawaii.
‘The Old Man and the Sea’ (1952) is Hemingway’s swan song. This is because it was the last work he published before his death in 1961. While several posthumous works were published after his death, ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ is the very last novel he published during his lifetime. Whether viewed as his final work or as a masterpiece, this novel can truly be called the crowning achievement that adorns Hemingway’s literary legacy.
Background and Content of the Work
Ernest Hemingway began writing ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ in early 1951 while living near Havana, Cuba. He completed the first draft by the end of April that year and submitted the manuscript to Charles Scribner’s Sons in New York in March 1952. The work was serialized in the September 1, 1952, special issue of the newsweekly ‘Life’. The magazine sold an astonishing 5.3 million copies within just two days of its release, demonstrating its immense popularity. Published as a book a week later, it immediately captured readers’ attention.
However, Hemingway’s conception of ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ traces back 15 years before its publication. In April 1936, he published an essay titled ‘Islands in the Stream’ in the monthly magazine ‘Esquire’. As hinted by its subtitle, ‘Letters from the Gulf Stream’, Hemingway was already conceptualizing a work centered on deep-sea fishing in the vast ocean around this time.
In this essay, a Cuban fisherman ventures far into the Gulf of Mexico to fish, and after a fierce struggle, catches a blue marlin weighing several hundred kilograms. However, on the way back to port, the marlin is completely taken by a pack of sharks, and the fisherman, nearly delirious, is found near the harbor by another fisherman. This short prose piece, like the marlin’s appearance after arriving at the harbor, is nothing but bare bones, lacking any substantial content.
Yet it goes without saying that this prose later became the cornerstone for Hemingway to build his work ‘The Old Man and the Sea’. The basic framework of these two works bears a considerable resemblance. If ‘Islands in the Stream’ is nonfiction depicting the real experiences of Gregorio Fuentes, the helmsman fisherman on the boat ‘Pilar’ owned by Hemingway’s fishing buddy and fellow writer, then ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ is, above all, a fictional novel featuring the fictional character Santiago. In other words, Hemingway fleshed out and infused his nonfiction work with life, ultimately giving birth to the artistic masterpiece ‘The Old Man and the Sea’.
Hemingway’s publication of ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ in 1952 was a truly groundbreaking event in his literary career. After publishing ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’, which dealt with the Spanish Civil War, he maintained a long silence for over a decade, failing to produce any notable work. Of course, he had published the novel ‘Across the River and Into the Trees’ ten years prior, but the response from critics and readers was decidedly cold. Some critics even openly declared, “Papa’s (Hemingway’s nickname at the time) era has come to an end.” Thus, The Old Man and the Sea emerged from a situation that was almost like a death sentence for Hemingway, making it all the more special to him.
The Sea as a Metaphor for Life
Ernest Hemingway had good reason to set his stories against the backdrop of the sea. Just as poets often liken life to a voyage, the sea is an unparalleled metaphor for the very foundation upon which human life is built. Of course, for Hemingway, the battlefield where Frederic risked his life transporting wounded soldiers in ‘A Farewell to Arms’, and the rear where Robert Jordan carried out dangerous operations to blow up a bridge in ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’, were undoubtedly also the foundations upon which life was lived. Similarly, the bullring in The Sun Also Rises, where matadors like Pedro Romero face off against bulls, can be seen as a powerful metaphor for the struggle for survival.
Yet, in his later years, Hemingway came to regard the sea as the ultimate metaphor for this arena of survival. Deeply fascinated by the sea, he even referred to the Bible as ‘the book of the sea’ or ‘the sea of knowledge’. While this was partly a metaphorical reference to the Bible being a vast repository of knowledge like the sea, he primarily likened the Bible itself to the deep sea. Few writers have elevated the sea to such a religious dimension as Hemingway did.
To narrow it down to a personal perspective, in ‘The Old Man and the Sea,’ Hemingway artistically embodies the struggle against aging. By the time he wrote this work, he was already fifty-two. By today’s standards, this might still be considered middle age, but for Hemingway—who had dedicated his youth to outdoor pursuits and endured numerous accidents, and who lived in an era without today’s advanced medicine—it felt like the onset of early old age. Moreover, around this time, he was suffering from various adult diseases like hypertension and diabetes, as well as depression and alcoholism.
In this novel, Santiago’s act of risking his life to reel in the enormous marlin can be seen as a symbolic attempt to defy the advancing old age that had overtaken him. This marlin, a staggering 5.5 meters long and 61 centimeters longer than Santiago’s fishing boat, represents old age and frailty.
Moreover, around this time, Hemingway was in a state of artistic exhaustion, no less severe than his physical decline. For Hemingway, who had elevated art to a religious level, nothing could have been more devastating than his inability to produce great works. Thus, he wanted to demonstrate that he was still artistically viable. The marlin symbolizes the glorious artistic heights he seeks to reclaim, and his desperate attempt to catch it can be seen as a symbolic representation of his artistic revival.
Central Theme of the Work
Among the themes Ernest Hemingway explores in ‘The Old Man and the Sea,’ heroism and stoicism are likely at the top of the list. Santiago, battling first the marlin and later the sharks, is a figure akin to Sisyphus from Greek mythology.
Among Hemingway’s protagonists, it’s rare to find a character who so majestically overcomes every trial and tribulation. His efforts are all the more valuable and precious precisely because he is an old man facing the twilight of his life, not a young man like Frederick Henry or a middle-aged man like Robert Jordan.
As is often the case with ascetics, spiritual victory is no less precious than material victory, perhaps even more so. Santiago catches a marlin larger than his own fishing boat, only to have it completely devoured by a pack of sharks. He kills no fewer than five sharks in his fight to protect the marlin. When he returns safely to port, the marlin has been stripped bare by the sharks, leaving only a skeleton. Yet during his struggle with the sharks, Santiago declares, “But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”
At first glance, there might seem little difference between ‘Defeat’ and ‘Destruction’. Indeed, consulting a dictionary reveals the former signifies losing a contest against an opponent, while the latter denotes being destroyed and ceasing to exist. Thus, ‘Destruction’ can be seen as the result of ‘Defeat’. Yet here, through Santiago’s words, Hemingway rigorously distinguishes between material victory and spiritual victory. That is, ‘Destruction’ relates to material and physical value, while ‘Defeat’ pertains solely to spiritual value.
If human life is ultimately a ‘hopeless struggle,’ what gives this struggle greater meaning is the bond between people. Ernest Hemingway emphasizes in ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ how crucial human solidarity and cooperative spirit are. In today’s terms, Santiago is a ‘lonely old man’ living alone, yet he has a young boy named Manolin who becomes his friend, and villagers who help him whenever they can. Santiago’s deep admiration for Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees stems from DiMaggio’s ability to demonstrate teamwork and lead the team to victory, unlike other players.
Meanwhile, Hemingway displays an attitude of harmony with nature in ‘The Old Man and the Sea’. At least in this respect, reading this work as a ‘green novel’ is entirely appropriate. Santiago shows deep interest and affection for all creatures living in the sea. Regardless of their type or size, every animal inhabiting the sea is his affectionate friend, a sibling born of the same parent. To Santiago, humans are merely part of nature.
Santiago sees the earth, and indeed the sea itself, as female—more than that, as a benevolent mother. He speaks of the sea as ‘that which gives great bounty and also takes it away’. Just as humans suckle the earth’s milk to live, they also consume all manner of nourishment from the sea to survive. If, like Santiago, one regards both the earth and the sea as loving mothers, one’s attitude toward nature cannot help but change. For just as a child cannot treat its mother carelessly, humans cannot treat nature carelessly.
