A classic story of man versus nature. There are dozens of well-known examples of just such a trial, but this story stands out on its own as one of the simplest yet most evocative books in recent times. After reading it, it’s easy to see why it won the Pulitzer Prize and got Hemingway the Nobel Prize.
Santiago, an old Cuban fisherman, lives alone and has dedicated his life to the sea. He struggles to perform daily tasks and lives in poverty, but the young apprentice Manolin helps him as much as he can. Santiago has been unlucky catching fish and fears he may have caught his last one, when one day he finally hooks a giant marlin that takes him on a ride for days. After significant struggle, Santiago is able to eventually catch the fish and bring it back to port. In the process, however, the fish’s skeleton is stripped by predators and Santiago strains himself almost to death. The ending leaves it unclear if Santiago will live, or if so, if he will ever fish again.
The expert weaving of characters, themes, and symbolism makes this much more than just a story of a fisherman. Hemingway plays with the concepts of aging, wisdom, dedication, trust, loyalty, nature, loneliness, and manhood, among others. He touches on some of humankind’s biggest fears and greatest strengths – sometimes in the same sentence. There’s no doubt that only Hemingway could have written this novel and his prizes were deserved. Feel free to read my comments on the specific elements of the story, or fast forward to my Final Thoughts.
Tone and Writing Style
Hemingway is famous for his straightforward writing style that uses words like “he said,” instead of more fanciful descriptions. He uses short, choppy sentence structure and didn’t seem to get the universal writing memo, “show don’t tell.” Hemingway tells and he tells it clearly.
While this is a personal writing style, it also heavily impacts the story. This direct approach tells the reader that the characters live firmly grounded and lack excessive imagination; they’re rooted to the sea and their jobs. Pleasures are simple as well; Santiago’s only real pastime is baseball, and his other pleasures are beer and fish. That’s it.
In addition, Hemingway chooses to focus on descriptors like “the old man” and “the boy” instead of their names. The book is not called, “Santiago’s Marlin,” but The Old Man and the Sea. It is a story of simple folk living a simple life, and it could be the story of someone else in the same village.
Loneliness and Aging
Santiago has no one besides the boy, and the boy’s family doesn’t want him working with Santiago. He is alone, not just out on the boat each day, but in his life. The book shows this undercurrent of solitude through a lack of dialogue and other characters. Santiago himself feels this loneliness (“I wish the boy was here,” repeated throughout), but his characteristic fortitude gets him through anything: “No one should be alone in their old age, he thought. But it is unavoidable,” (48).
He talks to himself and the sea for most of the book, showing how the waves and creatures are simply extensions of his own consciousness. It’s in his eyes, in his hands, and on his skin: “Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated,” (10). If Santiago were a lively, social man with family and friends, he would not have the relationship he has with the sea. It would not be a part of him.
Nature
This connection with nature is the fundamental undercurrent of the plot. The old man is extremely knowledgeable about fishing and the sea. He should be; this has been his whole life. He can read the skies and note the wind and judge the size of a fish from the smallest tug. Yet there’s something more, a stronger connection, there as well. He lives where it doesn’t, he rides where it pushes him, he takes what it offers. He pushes it back and it lives where he doesn’t, and both have hidden mysteries beneath the surface. The sea itself is the man, and is his greatest enemy at the same time: “Fishing kills me exactly as it keeps me alive,” (106).
The sea is unruly and dangerous, and the old man repeatedly expresses his respect for it. Yet he rarely expresses fear; if anything, he demands respect from the sea as much as he gives it. He’s confident he can rise to the challenge, even as the pull of the fishing line and his fatigue and hunger carve away at his strength. “But man is not made for defeat,’ he said. ‘A man can be destroyed but not defeated,’” (103).
The question left open at the end is who does win – man or nature? Santiago is sapped of all his strength, yet he’s able to bring the marlin back to the port and survive the ordeal. At the same time, the sharks ate away at the marlin as it was tied to his boat, destroying his trophy and eroding his confidence. Because of the sea itself, he may not fish again. It’s unclear who wins and who loses – only that both are inextricably woven into the same struggle of life and death.
Religion
Santiago is not a religious man, but there are strong suggestions of religious symbolism throughout the story. Santiago regularly speaks to God (as well as the sea, and Manolin, and himself). When looking for strength, he repeats Our Fathers and Hail Marys and uses “Christ!” as an expletive.
Upon his return, Santiago also struggles to carry his mast up the hill and resembles Jesus carrying the cross. While fishing, he describes pains in his hands like stigmata when: “…perhaps it is just a noise such as a man might make, involuntarily, feeling the nail go through his hands and into the wood,” (107). Finally, as Santiago is lying in his hut, there is the promise of everything Santiago knows being passed on to his young apprentice Manolin. This would be akin to Jesus’s rebirth after dying for the sake of mankind.
These present yet passive religious tones are echoed in Hemingway’s previous works and reflect his own passive belief in Christian ideology and their impact on his life.
Final Thoughts
Other reviews mention a lack of women and the subjugation of their role in society; that is not the case. This is not a story about women’s inferiority or the importance or strength of men over women. It is simply not a story about women at all. This is a man’s story, showing one old man’s relationship, love, and fight with the sea. It’s powerful and personal while being relatable to others. It demonstrates a man’s strength in the way another story may demonstrate a woman’s strength.
The story is carefully crafted so each word is straightforward yet poignant and the ideas are simple yet subtle. While the powers at play are clear, the winner isn’t. The Old Man and the Sea is a beautiful, strong, and transcendent story. As is often the case with Hemingway, he’s able to craft an endlessly appealing dichotomy out of what might otherwise be a cliche narrative. After you’ve read The Old Man and the Sea, it lingers with you. He’s put into words too many of our fears and hopes for it to simply fade away; this story will last as long as man and nature balance each other out.