Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Early in the book, the fishermen look at him with sadness, or with derision (Hemingway 1980, 11), but there is still a camaraderie and togetherness in their group that indicates they are all brothers in the same quest for a living.
Finally, religion and spirituality is an important aspect of the novel that many critics acknowledge. Critic Bloom continues, "In the Old Man and the Sea, Santiago, the principal figure, is a primitive Cuban, at once religious and superstitious. Yet neither his religion nor his superstitious beliefs are relevant to his tragic experience with the great marlin; they do not create it or in any way control its meaning (Bloom 1999, 13). Thus, the religion and spirituality that form the backbone of the novel form the backbone of the people, as well. They believe, but their spirituality does not control every aspect of their lives. Hemingway alludes to this faith early in the novel when Manolin says of his father, "He hasn't much faith," and Santiago replies, 'No, [...] but we have, haven't we?'" (Hemingway 1980, 10-11). This sense of spirituality continues throughout the story. In fact, Santiago even urges Manolin to have faith in the Yankees...
Thus, faith, in every aspect of life, permeates the people's lives and guides them in what they do, even if it does not control the outcome of the novel.
Some critics even equate Santiago with Christ, as another critic notes. He writes, "A great deal of scholarship interprets Hemingway's 1952 novel in terms of Christian symbolism, with Santiago representing at times a Christ-figure, a failed Christ-figure, or a simple apostle wrestling, like Thomas, with doubt" (Waggoner 1998). Santiago does seem larger than life in the novel, and his three-day fight with the fish would certainly kill a lesser man. Perhaps Hemingway did see Santiago as a Christ-like figure. At any rate, reading this novel with an eye for meaning and symbolism gives added depth to an already great work, and makes Santiago even more sympathetic and appealing.
References
Bloom, Harold, ed. 1999. Ernest Hemingway's the old man and the sea. Philadelphia: Chelsea House.
Hemingway, Ernest. 1980. The old man and the sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction.
Waggoner, Eric. 1998. Inside the current: A Taoist reading of 'The old man and the sea.' The Hemingway Review 17, no. 2: 88+.
For Santiago, there is nothing that gives him more pleasure than baseball so he uses it to preserve himself and give him the strength he needs to survive one more day. He is not thinking about pleasing Christ when he refuses to resort to despair but his goal is a more earthly one. He wants to be able to make DiMaggio, his baseball hero, proud. Santiago is an ordinary
Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway, narrates the story of an older man named Santiago who fishes for his living. Frustrated by his failure to catch anything for many days, Santiago ventures out into the ocean, in a very small boat, further than he ever has before, facing multiple struggles and crises. Throughout the story we see references and images to both youth and to the determination to
This battle is Santiago's personal struggle and it has meaning to him. In his struggle with the fish, Santiago says, "But I must have the confidence and I must be worthy of the great DiMaggio who does all things perfectly even with the pain of the bone spur in his heel" (Hemingway 68). This shows that the catching of the fish is like a personal test for Santiago. He
The only thing young about Santiago was his eyes, Hemingway wrote - but an alert reader knows that baseball is for the young at heart, age notwithstanding. And also, any baseball fan worth his salt knows that the Yankees had a great player named DiMaggio (Joe), who had his own struggles. Those comparisons of DiMaggio and Santiago are part of the meat of the book. While certainly DiMaggio had hall-of-fame
Old Man and Sea The 1958 film The Old Man and the Sea is based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway. The film stars Spencer Tracy, who was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his performance. Tracy plays the Old Man, a fisherman from Cuba who has gone several months without a catch. His lack of productivity calls into question the Old Man's masculinity and virility; as fishing symbolizes his
Unconventional Children's Tale "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings: A Tale For Children" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a lot of things. It's a great story, it's a satire on organized religion, it's a perfect example of magical realism, and - to be brief - much more, but one thing it is not is a conventional tale for children.1 When one thinks of children's tales, what does he/she think of?