Ernest Miller Hemingway (1899-1961) was born on July 21, 1899 as the second oldest of

six children in Oak Park, Illinois. In high school, he engaged himself working on his school
newspaper as a sports writer. He met a novelist named Sherwood Anderson and decided to
become a writer. He published his first novel entitled “The Torrents of Spring” in May 1926,
followed by “The Sun Also Rises”-which made him a famous writer, and “A Farewell to Arms” in
1929. Hemingway is one of the 20th century’s most famous American writer and a journalist
with a prominent economical style. His life could be a book itself and his desire in adventures.
One of his famous novel is entitled “The Old Man and the Sea” written in 1951 and was
published in September 1952, which was awarded with Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1953, and
the Nobel Prize in Literature followed in 1954. After the publication, he suffered from
depression, alcoholism, and other illnesses, and never released any story. Early in the morning
of July 2, 1961, he committed suicide by shooting himself in his Ketchum home.
“The Old Man and the Sea” is a heroic novel and is based on his own experience fishing
in Cuban waters and like the old man, he was also a fan of baseball. Socially, Hemingway always
talks and reminds people about the need to struggle against defeat and death and how
determination, bravery and endurance can help one to surpass the challenges in life. The value
of relationships, contrast between past glory and present status, dealing with the pride, and the
survival against the poverty teaches the readers important lessons in life.
Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea shows modernism by its simple context
and at the same time, showing struggles and hardships in life of an average working man, and
the reality of living in poverty.
The Old Man and the Sea is a tale about the protagonist, Santiago, an old fisherman who
was believed to run of a terrible bad luck for he was unable to catch any fish for eighty-four
days. His faithful apprentice named Manolin was forced by his parents to work with other
fisherman. Santiago decided to sail out farther to catch a really big fish. On the next day, he
succeeded in baiting a marlin which is too strong beyond his expectations. He struggled with
the marlin and later on reeled up the fish finally. But the blood from dead fish attracted the
sharks that made his efforts put in vain. As he reached home, he slept and dreamt of a lion due
to exhaustion and nearly death.
In “The old Man and the Sea”, most of the actions take place in the Gulf Stream where
Santiago struggles in catching the marlin and battles with the sharks. The novel focuses on the
struggle, bravery, faithfulness, and heroism of a man against the forces of nature and himself.
In the novel, Hemingway moves the story along through the use of crisp and direct dialogue. He
also uses simile, symbols, imagery and internal monologue to further understand the central
idea of the novel.
It is a simple story about a fisherman Santiago and his battle with a great marlin. For 84
days Santiago does not catch a single fish but he does not feel discouraged. He goes far out into
the sea and hooks a giant marlin. A desperate struggle ensues in which Santiago manages to kill
the fish and tie it to his bout, only to find that on the way home he has to fight a more
desperate struggle with some dangerous giant sharks, which eat up the marlin, leaving only a
skeleton. The old man brings it home and goes to bed to dream, almost dead with exhaustion.
In the novel, the sea is an embodiment of nature where Santiago and other fishermen
see themselves as a part of it for the sea is the force beyond anyone’s control. Santiago
represents social isolation because of his inability to perform his job well. Manolin represents
hope for he never abandons Santiago despite of his unluckiness in life. Marlin represents the
ideal opponent. It is the prize and his luck, a glorious and full-blooded evidence of his excellent
skill in work he has born to do. It is also the symbol of pride, honor and courage as it fights
persistently battling Santiago without considering defeat despite of its wounds. The sharks
represent the destructive forces in life that serve no purpose. The lions represents virility and
youth and at the end of the novel represents hope and happiness.
The elements contribute a lot in the novel to help readers understand the ideas and
overall meaning of every situation as it smoothly run the story. It keeps the flow of the story
more interesting using imagery and the fact that allegorical tale, economical style and its simple
story emphasizes the different values of each character especially its protagonist made its
strengths. However, it may be seen as a weakness for the story is too simple yet uses a lot of
symbolism and easy to miss the hidden meaning of the story for young readers.
The novel tells deeper message and gives lessons in life. I think the author wanted to tell
us that we have to honor the struggle and efforts. Each one of us has our own luck. We may
often fail from lots of things, especially when it comes to harder challenges which make us
disappointed, desperate and sometimes tend to surrender. We are afraid of defeat yet we do
not try to struggle for getting over the desperation. We need to strive hard and continue to
move forward as we journey towards our goal. I figured out three lessons, which are patience,
courage and friendship. Patience for waiting for the great opportunity to come where I can
manage to face the struggles before reaching my goal. Santiago was a patient person as well.
His fight with marlin, the big fish, was laborious but he did not let it go. Santiago’s patience is
suggestive of satisfaction and happiness after the patience. Courage to not to give easily give up
and be more persevere in life. We are faced with lots of hardship and suffering. We often give
up and feel desperate from it. It is not easy to struggle with those but Santiago’s life and
challenge encourage us not to be frustrated. The last one is friendship. It is very hard to trust
and honor each other especially in modern society. Similarly, to other books with the same
genre, I suggest that this novel is valuable, entertaining, meaningful and informative to read for
it is not only because this novel is famous or interesting but also there are morals and messages
which we can use in our daily life.
As what Santiago said, "A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” This line leaved a
mark in my mind and in my heart.
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