Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
The story
I was looking for some classical book to pass my weekend. I grabbed Hemingway’s Noble Prize winner “The Old Man and the Sea”. It is the story of an epic struggle between an old man and a big fish. Santiago is the very old Cuban fisherman who has been unable to catch a fish for eighty four days. Santiago has an apprentice called Manolin. Manolin adores the old man but his parents tell him he must stop fishing with Santiago because he is not catching any fish or making any money.
Santiago is convinced one day he will begin to catch fish again and that he is just going through an unlucky time but his luck will change. Manolin takes the old man food and baitfish to help him to keep fishing.
Hemingway’s story tells of the day that Santiago takes his boat out much farther into the sea than usual, thinking if he goes into deeper waters he will catch a fish. Santiago ventures far into the Gulf Stream. He prepares his lines and drops them. At noon, a big fish, which Santiago knows to be a Marlin because he’s a very knowledgeable and experienced fisherman, takes the bait at 100 fathoms. The old man expertly hooks the fish, but cannot pull it in. Instead, the fish begins to pull the boat. The old man, Santiago is unable to simply tie the line fast to the boat because the fish might break the line, so he holds the fish fast by himself. The strain of holding the large fish bends the old man’s shoulders and back but he holds on to the line, trying to control the large Marlin fish.
Santiago holds onto the fish for two days and two nights. It swims steadily northwest until at last it tires and swims east with the current. Santiago endures constant pain from the fishing line. The line is cutting into his hands, his back is strained and bent and his shoulders are exhausted with the struggle with the fish.. Whenever the fish lunges, leaps, or makes a dash for freedom, the line pulls through Santiago’s hands and cuts them badly.
As he struggles, the old man feels a deep empathy and admiration for the marlin. He admires the courage and determination of the fish to escape. On the third day the fish tires and Santiago, exhausted, having had no sleep for three nights and in deep pain because of the strength he has had to show to control the fish somehow manages to pull the Marlin close enough to his boat for him to thrust a harpoon in its body. He kills the fish. It’s the largest fish Santiago has ever seen. He lashes it to the craft, raises the small mast, and man and fish sail for home together.
Blood pours from the wounded Marlin’s body and leaves a trail of blood in the water. Sharks, attracted by the blood inevitably appear. The old man fights the sharks off as best he can. He kills a few but this attracts more sharks. When darkness falls it is impossible for Santiago to fight off the sharks anymore. They devour the Marlin, leaving only the skeleton of the fish, its head, and its tail.
Santiago admonishes himself for going out to far into the ocean. He gets back to his home and collapses on his bed. Totally exhausted. The next morning, a crowd of amazed fisherman gather around the skeletal carcass of the fish, still lashed to the boat. Manolin, who has been worried sick at the old man’s absence, is moved to tears to find Santiago safe in his bed. The boy watches over the old man’s sleep. When the old man wakes, he and Manolin agree to fish together again. The old man falls asleep once more. That afternoon, tourists observe the remains of the giant marlin and mistake it for a shark.
Comments
Everything about The Old Man & The Sea is classically simple. The style is pure Hemingway: short, Straightforward sentences with one-syllable words. The storyline is linear - easy enough for a child to follow - and the themes are clear and basic, touting manly courage, endurance, and noble suffering.
In fact, the novel would be little more than an adventure story were it not for Santiago’s dialogues with himself - his repetitive and symbolic musings, daydreams and plottings.
Philosophically, the giant fish - represented the hopes and dreams of mankind - and the old man’s relationship with it, is what creates the extraordinary pathos of the novel. And, in the end, even Santiago’s (humankind’s) modest expectations are snatched from his grasp.
--- Pradeep Ratnaparkhi (18 Sep 05)