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The Old Man and the Sea
SETTING
The narrative takes place in the
1940s. Although the opening and
closing scenes take place on
land in a small Cuban fishing
village, the dominant setting is
the Gulf Stream off the coast of
Cuba. Hemingway believes the sea
to be the last great unexplored
territory on earth, and this
work travels deeply into the
nature of this mysterious
setting.
THEMES AND CHARACTERS
The small cast of characters in
The Old Man and the Sea
consists of Santiago, the old
fisherman, and Manolin, the boy
who has fished with him for
years. Though the old man hits a
run of bad luck, Manolin still
wishes to fish with him. But
Manolin's parents demand that he
fish with a more successful
boat.
Other important characters come
to life in Santiago's mind.
Santiago speaks to and loves the
flying fish, the dolphins, and
the noble marlin. Santiago also
speaks to the sharks, but he
meets their malignancy with
enmity. The sea is also a
character, perhaps the major
presence in the book. Santiago
thinks of the sea as a woman,
thinks of it "as la mar,
which is what people call her in
Spanish when they love her,"
while the younger fisherman
think of the sea as the
masculine "el mar " and
consider it "a contestant or a
place or even an enemy." The
famous New York Yankee of the
1930s and 1940s, Joe DiMaggio,
maintains a symbolic presence in
the novel, often in Santiago's
thoughts. Despite the pain of
his bone spur, DiMaggio plays
great baseball. Santiago, too,
perseveres in spite of his age
and "bad luck."
The book's best-known line sums
up its most important theme: "A
man can be destroyed but not
defeated." Hemingway suggests
that, although a person may be
stripped of everything in the
process of living, a quest
conducted with skill, courage,
and endurance can guarantee the
ultimate triumph of the human
spirit. Hemingway rejects the
traditional happy ending in
which Santiago, the impoverished
old fisherman, would bring home
the great fish intact and sell
it for a large amount of money
at market. Instead, Santiago
brings only the bare skeleton of
the marlin into port, earning no
money yet garnering a far
greater prize: rather than
triumphing over nature, he
achieves oneness with it.
Other important themes in the
book center on the
master-apprentice relationship
between Santiago and Manolin.
The old man has taught the boy
many important things—how to
fish with skill and precision,
and how to live with wisdom and
dignity—but the old man also has
great need for the boy,
especially when he is alone at
sea and takes the great fish.
During his trying experience
with the marlin, the old man
repeatedly says, "I wish I had
the boy. To help me and to see
this." The thematic statement,
"No one should be alone in their
old age," refers to the old
man's solitude and emphasizes
the characters' relationship of
mutual respect and love.
Another major theme is the
kinship of all creatures.
Santiago loves and respects the
fish he kills. The old man finds
it difficult to express the
paradoxical love he feels for
the fish: "I do not understand
these things," he thinks, "but
it is good that we do not have
to try to kill the sun or the
moon or the stars. It is enough
to live on the sea and kill our
true brothers."
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