Riot’s Classic Literature Review: The Old Man and the Sea
This week, I am forced to admit to what is likely a major taboo within the literature realm: I have never read a piece by Ernest Hemingway. Shocker, I know. With his pervasive career, there is a likelihood that I read some of his work during middle school, high school, or college. But I can’t honestly say I remember it. Depending on who you ask, Hemingway is either the peak of the literary mountain, or the drunken misogynist as recalled by Julia Styles at the :18sec mark of this clip in 10 Things I Hate About You. But as I’ve stated in other posts, I haven’t been diving too far into the histories behind these authors, so it’s better off leaving those judgments to the individual. Written in 1951, The Old Man and the Sea is considered to be one of Hemingway’s most popular works. In its brief 100+ pages (my edition starts at 10 with no foreword and ends at 127) Hemingway packs in a tense, nail-biting story that puts the pride, honor, and determination of man under the microscope, while also portraying a cautionary tale about each aspects limitations.
The Old Man and the Sea takes place in Cuba and follows the titular “old man” Santiago throughout the course of five days. Opening after another unsuccessful day of fishing, the reader is introduced to Santiago and a young boy named Manolin as they update the reader on their history/relationship through casual conversation. Santiago is on an eighty-four day catching dry spell and the boy, formerly his apprentice, has been forced away from fishing with Santiago by his parents due to his lack of success. The mentor/mentee relationship is well established and the respect that the two share for each other is clearly evident in their conversation. Although Manolin wishes to continue working together with Santiago, the old man refuses his help, advising that the boy needs to continue on with the “lucky boat” he is currently on. Manolin eventually gets Santiago to concede allowing him to help in other ways: procuring bait for him, sharing his dinner, carrying his gear to his boat the next day, and buying him a cup of coffee before his trip. After taking his boat further into the Gulf Stream than he was entirely comfortable with, Santiago is shown expertly navigating his fishing site and eventually has one of his lines snag a fish. Convinced he has caught a massive marlin, Santiago begins his heroically physical battle with the fish as it begins to drag his boat further and further away from his home. Battling the marlin, constant fatigue/hand cramps, and rope burns, Santiago continues the fight throughout an entire day and night. He consistently mourns not having the boy around to help him with his struggle and talks to himself and the fish consistently throughout. His skill is exemplified even further as he is portrayed catching, fileting, and eating other fish while simultaneously continuing his battle with the massive marlin. The old man sees the fish as a brother of sorts, frequently stating that their fates are intertwined. The next day, Santiago finally ends the fish’s life with a harpoon. It’s size is so immense that he is unable to even bring the fish onboard, choosing instead to lash it to the side of the boat. As he begins his long return trip, he becomes painfully aware that his dead prize is going to start attracting sharks and that he is so significantly far away from land that he begins to regret killing the fish in the first place. Santiago’s worst fears are quickly realized and he spends the next day and night killing off more and more of the predators as they slowly but surely strip all the flesh of his amazing catch. Finally arriving back at town late at night, Santiago drags his weary body home and collapses in bed. The next morning, Manolin finds Santiago in his hut and mourns how ragged the old man looks, seeing the excessive damage that was done to his hands. The boy informs the old man that there was a big search for him and assures him that he must fish with him again so that he can learn more. Other fisherman, seeing the immense size of the skeleton still lashed to the boat, pass on their respect for Santiago’s once-in-a-lifetime catch. Tourists even remark that the skeleton is so big that it must be a shark of some kind. The book closes with Santiago falling asleep again, having pleasant dreams from his past.
Being more of a novella than anything else, the themes of the book are fairly few:
The Honor in Struggle: Many other reviews I have read speak about Santiago as being an archetypal hero. There are a number of things that attest to this. Through his internal and external monologues, the reader finds out that Santiago is exceptionally strong, even at his old age. The events of the story confirm this, as it depicts an elderly man battling an eighteen foot marlin for two days, following up that immense task with subsequent fights against numerous sharks. His story is a string of successes and defeats, but what never changes is his indominable will to continue doing so. He commits to the fight, to his profession and pushes himself to every limit to finish the task at hand. Santiago also makes a number of comparisons between himself and Joe DiMaggio whom he admires greatly as someone who has conquered his own physical limitations to achieve greatness. Both Santiago and Manolin reflect on the honor that comes from struggling against the odds, regardless of the inevitable outcome.
The Downfall of Pride: The negative aspect to Santiago’s determination is the pride that lies behind it. He is constantly aware that he is literally in uncharted waters. There is an argument to be made that this is more desperation than pride, but Santiago’s determination to acknowledge his own character flaw would attest to the latter. He could have made a number of moves throughout that would have freed his prey and relieved his body from the torment that he put it through. His “brotherhood” with the fish links them together and that sense of pride is essentially exemplified in the fish’s actions as well, refusing to give in to the fisherman that has hooked him. It is also partially due to his pride that Manolin is not with Santiago on his journey, thereby ensuring that things inevitably do go wrong at the end of the story. While he was trying to look out for Manolin and ensure his continued success, he consistently laments his decision to not allow the boy to come along.
The Consistency of Worldly Oppression: Admittedly, this falls more under symbolism than themes, but I would argue since its presence throughout the story speaks to a larger thematic idea. Though he chalks it up to a lack of luck, Santiago’s dry-spell with his catches isn’t anything new. He and Manolin fought through it before, but now he is officially alone in his endeavor. He has very little to his name, living in a small hut and having literally the bare essentials to get him by. He is not successful by any stretch of the imagination, but he admirably continues his daily fight versus worldly malevolence. The biggest symbolic reference to the forces that align themselves against him come in the form of the sharks that inevitably strip his marlin down to its bones. Santiago is finally blessed with a catch for the ages and instead of being rewarded for his efforts, it is stolen from him. There is no doubt by the end of the book that he is in fact vindicated, having the fisherman who mocked him previously give credence to how spectacular his catch really is. At the end, the reader still understands that his noble battle will not end.
Wrap-Up: Hemingway’s novella was an incredibly easy/fast read. The fact that it is chapter-less lends to the desire to finish it in one sitting like I did. Much like Of Mice and Men, this book would be a great airplane book and at the very least, I would highly recommend finishing it in one sitting. Hemingway’s writing style isn’t overly complex and his sentences are often short yet still detail packed. The dialogue that the story begins with is organic and easily interpreted, making it easy to understand which of the two main characters is speaking without having to overtly refer to them. Once Santiago is by himself, Hemingway transitions his main character between spoken word and internal monologue fluidly making it easy to track his thought process as he struggles with the massive marlin. As he bounces back and forth from internal reflection and flashbacks from his past, the reader never fails to keep track at where his thought process is. Santiago and Manolin are incredibly likeable/respectable characters, which makes the loss of the fish at the end of the book so tragically heartbreaking. I was fiercely rooting for Santiago to win at the end and it was hard to maintain hope for him even though that was clearly the intent for the conclusion of the story. Santiago’s struggle with the marlin is everything I would have expected/wanted from Moby Dick but delivered at less than a quarter of the page-length. Unlike Moby Dick as well, the pervasive knowledge of fishing that Hemingway describes through Santiago doesn’t come off as the encyclopedia-esc descriptions that Melville used. The information came out fluidly through the events of the story and by the actions of its main character. Admittedly, Santiago’s struggle likely translates better to male readers, especially in regards to the physicality behind his efforts as well as the societal commentaries that come from it. Even though Santiago was never really focused on achieving this, the vindication he receives at the end is something that we can all relate to. There’s little about Santiago’s story that isn’t admirable, even if his pride can be positively identified as a character defect, which I would argue it can’t be. Success, as defined as it is by other people and society, will inevitably relinquish to the eye of the beholder at the end of the day. Every person decides for themselves what's a worthwhile endeavor. Santiago’s legacy, even after failing to bring home a complete catch, remains intact; not only by the carcass that proved the immensity of his fish, but also through his relationship with Manolin who will take the lessons that were passed onto him into the future.
Riot’s Rating: 10/10: I have no complaints. Go read this book.
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