I chose this novel because the first time I heard about Hemingway

was from my dad. He used to live in Cuba in the 1970s and visited
Hemingway’s house and the close by fishing village of Cohimer, which
is the village in the story. Hemingway, when he was writing this book,
reflected on his life to a great degree. All throughout he has always
been deeply fascinated by the struggle and challenges people
overcame in their lives. He aims to teach us, the importance of the
need for determination behind our discissions which would help us in
tremendous ways to overcome our struggles. He puts forth the significance behind our challenges, and
our need for the required resilience to persevere through them. The author was famously quoted saying
“The way to make people trustworthy is to trust them”. The quote applies to the text in the way that
Santiago had complete and unwavering trust in God which allowed him to be supported spiritually by
the Almighty. In the story, the old fisherman is a direct representation of Hemingway himself, the sea is
life and the big marlin is our life goal, while the sharks represent the people and things that get in the
way of it.

While the sharks represent a constant and unpleasant necessity, they are very well needed for our
survival. Swimming to his native village with the dismembered skeleton of his fish, the old man
still refuses to consider himself defeated: “Who defeated you, old man?” - he asks himself and
immediately gives the answer. “Nobody. I just went too far into the sea.”. In this reasoning is
also visible the will and the worldly wisdom of man, knowing. all the immensity of the
surrounding world and his place in it. In the conclusion of the story: the old man is defeated, but
in the highest sense he remains undefeated, his human dignity triumphs. And then he continued.
with words which echoed throughout the entire book: "Man was not created to be defeated. Man
can be destroyed, but he cannot be defeated."