The Old Man and His Sea
The contemplation of Earnest Hemmingways' novella The Old Man and the Sea is explained as a masterpiece of intricate symbolism.
In the orange glow of the setting sun you see the silhouette of a man on a small boat, he is hunched over a coil of rope bringing line in little by little, he finally pulls in the great silver mass that is the reward of his toil. Once he is done violently clubbing the great animal to death, in the name of humanity, he lets out the sail, as it fills with the wind you observe it?s frayed edges. Looking like a child?s worn toy coming in from the vast glowing sea the skiff moves slowly into port, carrying with it the burdens of a thousand lives and deaths. As you close the book you wonder of the gloomy feelings cast upon the beautiful twilight by the old man and his boat. {The Old Man and the Sea}, written by Ernest Hemingway is a short novel that contains what seems a simple story of an old man and a fish, but when further contemplated is a masterpiece of intricate symbolism, threaded together with the delicate strands that together form the unbreakable network life. Further will be explained Hemingway?s? use of symbolism in this tragic novella, how it is linked together, and what the story is really about.
The great DiMaggio, is referred to many times in the story, Joe DiMaggio had humble beginnings in life. He was one of nine children, his parents Italian immigrants. His father was a fisherman, like the old man, yet Joe rose to greatness. DiMaggio is a sign of everlasting hope in the story, and is linked to the marlin; Santiago had respect for both the Marlin and DiMaggio, and could relate to them both. He spoke to the fish as his brother, his equal. The fish is also part of his struggle that connects to his hands. The old mans hands are a huge part of the book and one of the three main symbols, his hands represent strength, betrayal, and religion all in one. His right hand is cut, while his left hand is bleeding, his hands are his strength, they make his work. Yet his left hand cramps and is a difficulty for him. All through the book his hands are more and more battered like Jesus, [q]"Then he saw the old man?s hands and began to cry?[/q](Pg.122), the boy cries like Mary once he sees the old mans hands, the mark of his suffering. The book has many Christian metaphors in it, and his hands aren?t it.
The Lions, the old man is always dreaming of the lions, nothing else. They represent his youth, when he was unplagued by the burdens of lost loved ones, and unluckiness. [q]?he waited to see if there would be more lions and was happy?[/q] (pg.81) His dreams of the lions on the beaches of Africa gave him hope to live on to another day. He loved the lions, and he loved the boy, there were few things in life that made the old man happy, the boy and the lions were it. The boy is really the only person that cares about the old man, as you can see from his internal dialogue on page 21, [q]?Why am I so thoughtless? I must get him another shirt and a jacket for the winter.?[/q] Then there is the sea, it gives food, which supports life, and brings storms, which destroy it. The sea is like a living thing and controls his fate. The old man knows the sea as la mar which means it is feminine and therefore loveable, some know it as el mar which makes it masculine, and even hated, yet Spanish is a male dominated language so to be feminine is somewhat demeaning in the specifics of the language. Therefore, to him the sea was a lovable yet uncontrollable thing.
The old man is living in a confusing and world, he is on the uncontrollable sea, which holds his future, it is constantly changing and you wonder if he is going to make it home at all. Yet he has one unaltering factor in his life, the skiff. It is his prison and his savior, and it is constant throughout the book. The sail was what brought him home at night, yet was a depressing reminder of his poverty, still it did it?s job, [q]?The sail was patched with flour sacks and, furled, it looked like a permanent flag of defeat.?[/q] (Pg.9) The sail is like Santiago, old, worn, tired, and hard working. When the old man gets home even then his troubles aren?t over, he must bring home the mast and sail. He is forced to carry this burden across his shoulders despite his deep exhaustion, again like Jesus. The old man had to stop five times before he reached his shack; his reward was the sleep that followed.
This book can be viewed as either optimistic or pessimistic. I chose to see it as neither, because all in all this book is about how you learn from life how to live, but in the end it?s life that kills you. The story of The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway though it seems simplistic, is really a tediously well thought out web of symbolism that represents life?s lessons, trials, and joys. Hemingway?s beautiful symbolism in this short novel and the associations he uses, tell the real tale of the old man and his sea.
