The Old Man and the Sea

Hemingway, Ernest. (The Old Man and the Sea) New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. , 122pg
Reviewed by Kyle Fischer, Los Osos High School, Rancho Cucamonga, CA

This previous week I read the book, The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway. In the beginning of the book we meet our main characters, Santiago and Manolin. We learn that since the old man hasn’t caught a fish in 84 days he is ridiculed by the other fishermen. The young boy has a strong compassion for the old man and doesn’t like it when the other fishermen ridicule him so the boy offers to buy a beer for both of them. This tells us that the young boy will serve as an advocate for the old man and that they will develop a strong bond.

In telling the story Old Man and the Sea, Hemmingway uses visual imagery and symbolism. On the 85th fishless day the man wakes up and sets out to his skiff with high hopes of catching a big fish to show the other fishermen. Hemmingway makes a reference to the old man’s faith and to his Catholic religion. Previously the old man had set up boundaries that he knew that his skiff must stay within. But this day the old man chose to remove the boundaries and rely on his faith. After passing the boundaries the old man almost immediately catches two little flying fish then hooks a massive marlin. When the old man catches the marlin he says in his head that he is going to catch this fish or die trying. This marlin takes the man on a journey of a lifetime, a three day adventure at sea. This symbolizes mankind in its daily struggle. The lesson here is that if we remove the boundaries that confine us, good things may happen in life.

After hooking the marlin, the biggest fish he has ever caught, the man realizes that he does not have the proper tools to bring in the fish. Hemmingway creates a metaphor of the old man as a martyr just like Christ. The man has to hold the fishing lines with his bare hands and cuts his palms giving the reader the image of Christ suffering his stigmata. The stigmata is scars that Christ received when he had nails driven into his palms and feet at his crucifixion. The old man fights the battle for 3 days and towards the end of the journey the old man finally gets the fish and kills the fish. It was so big that the man had to troll the fish behind the skiff. On the way back the old man starts to feel guilty for killing the magnificent fish. He feels this way because along this journey the old man grew an alliance with the fish, after all, the fish is his savior. About half way back to the island the man encounters sharks and they devour the fish before the man could kill them. After the sharks devour the magnificent marlin, the old man realizes that he should have left it alive in the sea. The marlin now becomes the martyr just like the old man.

Eventually, the man gets the fish back to shore but is too tired to tend to it. He leaves the skeleton at the dock and shuffles home with the mast across his back and he has to stop 5 times before he finally reaches his home. When he gets home he gets a cup of water and passes out on the bed with his palms up and head down. This again symbolizes Christ carrying the crucifix and then suffering on the cross with his head down and his palms up nailed to the cross. In the final pages of the book we find the man being tended to by the young boy, Manolin, just as Christ is tended to by his disciples.

It is said by people that when Hemmingway wrote Old Man and the Sea it was towards the end of his writing career. In the book, the old man symbolizes Hemmingway’s struggles to write a good book and how he was being criticized by his peers. At the time he steps out of his boundaries to write something beautiful and it is destroyed by critics in the story those would symbolize the sharks that destroy the marlin. In a nutshell, the book illustrates his life and his struggles just like the old man’s in the book. I think that the book, Old Man and the Sea, is an amazing book that people should take the time to read.



-Kyle Fischer