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The Old Man and the Sea

In Ernest Hemingway's classic novella The Old Man and the Sea, the author provides us with an old fisherman named Santiago who risks the dangers of the sea and a fierce group of sharks to land his prize catch, a marlin bigger than any he has ever seen. After exhibiting courage and endurance, Santiago ultimately catches his prize marlin but sharks attack it before the old fisherman can get his catch safely to shore. Despite this loss, Hemingway admires Santiago and the marlin as symbols that represent the respective struggle of human beings to maintain courage and dignity in an often harsh and unforgiving universe or nature. The main theme of the novella is that human beings can retain a sense of dignity and honor and resilience despite the triumphs and tragedies of the struggle to exist. Combining human endurance and the struggle of nature in Santiago and the marlin, when the old fisherman has his fish he maintains, "Now we are joined together and have been since noon. And no one to help either one of us" (Hemingway 50).

The novella is great because it shows the triumph of the human spirit through courage and endurance, despite the challenges to survive against a much stronger and often hostile universe represented in the story by the sea. Santiago embodies what is known as the characteristics of the "Hemingway Code," a manner of being that Waldhorn (26-27) explains, "The code does not ask that a hero be fearless or entertain illusions about refuge or escape. But it insists that he discipline and control his dread and, above all, that he behave with unobtrusive though unmistakable dignity...And it suggests that a hero have cajones...The code asks of a man that he try in every gesture he makes to impress his will on the raw material of life." In the novella, Santiago acts this way at all times. He does not give up his battle until the sharks have eaten the last remnants of his prize marlin, knowing then that...

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The Old Man and the Sea. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 10:20, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/2000234.html