The Old Man And The Sea2 i2q43

COLEGIUL NATIONAL “MIHAI VITEAZUL” SLOBOZIA – JUDETUL IALOMITA

Man can be destroyed but not defeated Author: Diaconescu Silvia

Teacher: Karin Ciurea

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COLEGIUL NATIONAL “MIHAI VITEAZUL” SLOBOZIA – JUDETUL IALOMITA

The Old Man and the Sea Or: Man can be destroyed but not defeated Ernest Hemingway is by far one of the greatest American writers and a classic in universal literature. His writings were a huge success during his life and are still enjoyed by a large number of readers. May the incredibly simple style which treats difficult themes be the recipe of his success, or was it his God-given art of writing? Born in Oak Park, near Chicago, the second child of his father, who was a medic and his mother, an opera singer, the future novelist grew up in a wealthy family with ample opportunity to read and experience cultural events. Ernest probably inherited the sensibility of a musician from his mother and the power of treating people‘s soul from his authoritative father. When he was two years old, in the summer, his father took him at fishing for the first time. Little Ernest caught the biggest fish and since then, fishing would remain the ion of his life. He had a very tumultuous life. He was married four times, was a ionate fisherman and hunter. He travelled a lot and was also a heavy drinker. As a result of such a restless life, tortured by big health problems and loneliness, he committed suicide in his home in Idaho, on 2 July 1961, by shooting himself. It seemed that he was also suffering of paranoid attacks in his last years of living, worried about money and safety. During World War I, when he was still 18, he offered himself to be an ambulance driver in Italy. Despite being wounded by mortar fire, he helped an Italian soldier, carrying him to safety. Hemingway received the Italian Silver Medal of Bravery, but he explained his deed more as a result of lack of experience, natural for his youth: "When you go to war as a boy you have a great illusion of immortality. Other people get killed; not you ... Then when you are badly wounded the first time you lose that illusion and you know it can happen to you‖. He also took part in World War II and the Spanish Civil War, as a journalist. In 1951, he wrote the novel The Old Man and the Sea, a book about which he said that it was "the best I can write ever for all of my life". It was, indeed and was going to remain his best writing, as many critics believe. A year later, Ernest Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize and in 1954 received the Nobel Prize for Literature. The writing style used in most of his writings is original. The unique Hemingway style, Hemingway-esque, as it is called by critics is famous for the short, factual sentences, the declarative nature of the words. Hemingway called his style the iceberg theory: ‖The facts float above water; the ing structure and symbolism operate out of sight‖. His style sounds so modern due to persistent use of this tone of understatement also influenced probably by his experience as a journalist who had to be concise and objective.

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COLEGIUL NATIONAL “MIHAI VITEAZUL” SLOBOZIA – JUDETUL IALOMITA The same skeletal sentences compose the novel The old man and the sea, a real iceberg of literature: the simplicity floats above water, the story line is simple and linear but the water has huge depths; the profundity, the symbols apparently hidden behind an easy story, treat themes such as honor in struggle, perseverance, defeat and death. The main character, Santiago is an old Cuban fisherman who hasn‘t caught fish for 84 days. He has a young friend, Manolin, a young boy he had taught to fish. However, the book rarely mentions their name and calls them simply ―the old man‖ and ―the boy‖ thus taking them out of their individuality and lifting them onto the level of humanity. Manolin‘s parents have forced him to leave the old man in order to fish in a more lucky boat. Nevertheless, the boy continues to care for the old man by bringing him food and discussing about American baseball, especially the trials of the old man‘s hero, Joe DiMaggio. After some visionary dreams, Santiago is confident that he‘s going to stop his unlucky streak, so on the 85th day he sails farther than usual out of golf. He prepares his lines and drops them. At noon, he catches a huge marlin. The old man expertly hooks the fish, but he cannot pull it in. Instead, the fish begins to pull the boat out to sea. He fights with the fish and finally manages to kill it on the third day. In the battle, the old man loses not only most of his physical strength but also the harpoon, which leaves him vulnerable to shark attacks. And they come, attracted by the blood of the marlin. Although the old man kills several sharks, more and more appear, and Santiago‘s fight becomes useless. Helpless, the old man watches the sharks devour his capture, which would have been the crowning achievement of his life. The sharks eat the marlin‘s entire body, leaving only the skeleton, head, and tail. He arrives home before daybreak, stumbles back to his shack, and sleeps very deeply. In the morning, the people are amazed at the 5 meters long skeleton which they find on the beach. Manolin is happy to find his friend safe in his bed and the two agree to be partners of fishing again. Back to sleep, the old man dreams his usual dream of lions playing on the beaches of Africa. The action of the novel takes part in the old man‘s boat, out at sea. That‘s why the title was simply written The old man and the sea, which could also suggest the isolation from the people. The sea represents the Universe and Santiago‘s isolation in this universe. Being surrounded by water, the old man has to fight not only with the marlin, but also with the heat of the sun, the cold of the nights and hunger, as he didn‘t have what to eat. Santiago is characterized from the beginning as the human struggling with defeat, who never gives up and believes in his hope that he will find fish. His unique dignity comes from this determination to never give up, even in the face of defeat. The marlin on the other hand, symbolizes the ultimate opponent. Struggling against such an enemy brings out the best in him—courage, endurance, and love. At the same time, marlin is an alter ego—Santiago identifies the marlin as male and imagines the fish is old—the marlin comes to represent himself. He addresses him as ‗friend‘, ‗brother‘, ‗companion‘ and asks him to forgive him for having to kill him. Both Santiago and the marlin display qualities of pride, honor, and bravery, and both are aware that one of them must kill and one must be killed. In other words, Santiago‘s struggle with the marlin is in fact a struggle with himself. It is not a struggle of strength but rather of endurance, a refusal to accept defeat. Santiago‘s struggle with the marlin is in fact an attempt at overcoming his own weaknesses. Santiago lives according to his own 3

COLEGIUL NATIONAL “MIHAI VITEAZUL” SLOBOZIA – JUDETUL IALOMITA observation: ―man is not made for defeat , man can be destroyed but not defeated.‖ In Hemingway‘s portrait of the world, defeat and death are inevitable, but the best men will always continue fighting against them, though they are aware of failure. Hemingway likened Santiago to Christ. When the fisherman‘s palms are cut by the fishing line, it creates a striking parallel with the crucifixion of Christ. The image of the old man, struggling up the hill with the mast recalls Christ‘s calvary march toward Golgotha. It was a Friday when he caught his fish, which symbolizes Good Friday, the day Jesus was crucified. The hook went into and through the mouth of the fish, just as the nails went through the hands of Jesus. On the second day, the old man waits for the rising of the fish, like Jesus‘s followers awaited His resurrection. Santiago said ten Hail Marys and ten Our Fathers to conjure up divine help. On the third day, the fish rose and the old man killed him. This day mirrors Easter Sunday when Jesus rose from the dead, and then ascended to heaven. The sharks stand in complete contrast to the marlin. Unlike the marlin, the sharks are not worthy opponents. The shovel-nosed sharks symbolize the destructive forces of nature and , to continue the religious parallel ,of the people of Jerusalem, whose minor jealousies and rivalries led to the crucifixion of Jesus. Scavengers who eat dead flesh, the shovel-nosed sharks stand in contrast to the dignified, sublime marlin. Santiago doesn‘t win any glory battling with them, because they are base predators. The lions in the old man‘s dreams are the symbols of youth or hope for eternal life. In fact, the sober promise of the regeneration with which the novella closes is ed by the final image of the lions. Lions are strong creatures, predators, hunters who kill in order to survive, just as the old man hunted the marlin. The dream, with which the novella ends, suggests the harmony between life and death, destruction and regeneration. Despite the simplicity of the story and the fact that the outcome can be easily predicted after a while, the story has a compelling force which I found very touching. I was deeply moved by the contrast between the apparent fragility of the old man and the formidable dimension of his opponent. I kept hoping that the fisherman would manage to bring his fish to shore but his dignified resistance and eventually his resignation left a lasting impression on me. The Old Man and the Sea is one of the books you will never forget.

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COLEGIUL NATIONAL “MIHAI VITEAZUL” SLOBOZIA – JUDETUL IALOMITA

Bibliography 1.

Hemingway, Ernest – The old man and the sea, Scribner Paperback Fiction

2.

Baker, Carlos - Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story, Charles Scribner's Sons

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