The Old Man
and the Sea is the story of an epic
struggle between an old, seasoned fisherman and the greatest catch of
his life. For eighty-four days, Santiago, an aged Cuban fisherman, has set out
to sea and returned empty-handed. So conspicuously unlucky is he that the
parents of his young, devoted apprentice and friend, Manolin, have forced the
boy to leave the old man in order to fish in a more prosperous boat.
Nevertheless, the boy continues to care for the old man upon his return each
night.
He helps the old man tote his gear to his ramshackle hut, secures food for him,
and discusses the latest developments in American baseball, especially the
trials of the old man’s hero, Joe DiMaggio. Santiago is confident that his
unproductive streak will soon come to an end, and he resolves to sail out
farther than usual the following day.
On the
eighty-fifth day of his unlucky streak, Santiago does as promised, sailing his
skiff far beyond the island’s shallow coastal waters and venturing into the
Gulf Stream. He prepares his lines and drops them. At noon, a big fish, which
he knows is a marlin, takes the bait that Santiago has placed one hundred
fathoms deep in the waters. The old man expertly hooks the fish, but he cannot
pull it in. Instead, the fish begins to pull the boat.
Unable to
tie the line fast to the boat for fear the fish would snap a taut line, the old
man bears the strain of the line with his shoulders, back, and hands, ready to
give slack should the marlin make a run. The fish pulls the boat all through
the day, through the night, through another day, and through another night. It
swims steadily northwest until at last it tires and swims east with the
current. The entire time, Santiago endures constant pain from the fishing line.
Whenever the fish lunges, leaps, or makes a dash for freedom, the cord cuts
Santiago badly. Although wounded and weary, the old man feels a deep empathy
and admiration for the marlin, his brother in suffering, strength, and resolve.
On the third day the fish tires, and Santiago, sleep-deprived, aching, and nearly delirious, manages to pull the marlin in close enough to kill it with a harpoon thrust. Dead beside the skiff, the marlin is the largest Santiago has ever seen. He lashes it to his boat, raises the small mast, and sets sail for home. While Santiago is excited by the price that the marlin will bring at market, he is more concerned that the people who will eat the fish are unworthy of its greatness.
On the third day the fish tires, and Santiago, sleep-deprived, aching, and nearly delirious, manages to pull the marlin in close enough to kill it with a harpoon thrust. Dead beside the skiff, the marlin is the largest Santiago has ever seen. He lashes it to his boat, raises the small mast, and sets sail for home. While Santiago is excited by the price that the marlin will bring at market, he is more concerned that the people who will eat the fish are unworthy of its greatness.
THEMES:
1) The Honor in Struggle, Defeat & Death
From the
very first paragraph, Santiago is characterized as someone struggling against
defeat. He has gone eighty-four days without catching a fish—he will soon pass
his own record of eighty-seven days. Almost as a reminder of Santiago’s
struggle, the sail of his skiff resembles “the flag of permanent defeat.” But
the old man refuses defeat at every turn: he resolves to sail out beyond the
other fishermen to where the biggest fish promise to be. He lands the marlin,
tying his record of eighty-seven days after a brutal three-day fight, and he
continues to ward off sharks from stealing his prey, even though he knows the
battle is useless.
2) Pride as the Source of Greatness:
Many
parallels exist between Santiago and the classic heroes of the ancient world.
In addition to exhibiting terrific strength, bravery, and moral certainty,
those heroes usually possess a tragic flaw—a quality that, though admirable,
leads to their eventual downfall. If pride is Santiago’s fatal flaw, he is keenly
aware of it. After sharks have destroyed the marlin, the old man apologizes
again and again to his worthy opponent. He has ruined them both, he concedes,
by sailing beyond the usual boundaries of fishermen. Indeed, his last word on
the subject comes when he asks himself the reason for his undoing and decides,
“Nothing ... I went out too far.”
So, at the
end we can say that Santiago is considered by many readers to be a tragic hero,
in that his greatest strength— - his pride - —leads to his eventual downfall.
No comments:
Post a Comment