Hemingway's The Old Man and The Sea - complete set of notes, page by page

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THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA (1952)

In this novella (short novel), Hemingway’s aim is to examine man’s position in the universe.  Throughout the novella, Santiago (‘the old man’) endeavours to see himself in a cosmic perspective.  Certainly, he takes, for a fisherman, a surprisingly sympathetic view of the creatures, with whom we share the planet.

Hemingway’s story reads as if it is a Biblical parable.

Ian Ousby (50 American Novels, 1979) writes that the theme of Hemingway’s parable is nothing less than ‘The relation between man and nature’; he adds that throughout the story ‘the old man feels a sense of union with nature’

Hemingway’s novella stands in a tradition which begins with Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, (1850).  The difference is that, whereas Melville’s Captain Ahab expresses a remorseless hatred for the sea and its creatures, Hemingway’s Santiago expresses a love of them.  In this respect, Hemingway’s hero has more in common with D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930).  In many important ways, Hemingway’s parable of the Marlin owes a debt to Lawrence’s presentation of a ‘Mountain Lion’ and a ‘Snake’ (1923).

‘Was it humility to feel so honoured?

I felt so honoured’

D. H. Lawrence: Snake (1923)

Use a quote from mountain lion

Conspicuous moral – if one lives in contact with the elements then one comes to a true understanding of oneself.

Cuban setting – Gulf of Mexico

The boy is instinctively sympathetic towards the old man

There is a schematic approach to the Deadly Sins, the Cardinal Virtues, and the Heavenly Graces.  We either exhibit or reject them.  We shall see in the course of the narrative that Hemingway encompasses a significant number of the Sins, the Virtues, and the Graces.

‘Defeat’ the patched sail of the boat is an emblem to Santiago’s continuing misfortune.  Although the sail is ‘furled like the flag of permanent defeat’, the old man is not a defeatist.

The story is going to tell us that Santiago has immense strength of character.

Perseverance and resilience.

The old man has a great capacity for endurance.

Page 5

Santiago’s eyes are ‘the same colour as the sea’; Hemingway exhibits a close affinity between the old man and the sea.

When he goes to sea the old man is in his element

Page 6

The boy ‘loved him’ and has a great deal of faith in the old man; he displays a Heavenly Grace.

The boy does not doubt the old man.

There is a solidarity ‘between fishermen’, between the old man and Manolin (the boy).

Page 7

The boy stresses the importance of service (‘I would like to serve in some way’); he is willing to put himself at Santiago’s disposal and therefore has an altruistic attitude towards the old man.

Page 8

The old man is not defeated by his lack of success at sea because he has not lost confidence in his ability as a fisherman (‘his hope and confidence had never gone’).

Hope – Grace

The old man remains both literally and metaphorically buoyant.

There is something heroic about the way in the old man reacts to the adversity that faces him.

Santiago’s mood is to be identified with the rise and fall of the sea breeze:

        ‘Freshening as when the sea breeze rises’

Hemingway associates the old man with the natural elements.

The old man’s relationship with the sea has enabled him to understand that the sea, indeed all the elements, are more powerful than he is; consequently, he feels humble (‘attained humility’) and exhibits yet another of the Heavenly Graces.

He is a wise old man because he knows that humility is ‘not disgraceful’; it involves ‘no loss of true pride’; he can respect the sea without losing any dignity.

Santiago’s proximity to the sea inculcates (impresses upon him) in him a Christian sense of values; it’s repugnance (hatred) for the Deadly Sins and a complementary respect for the Cardinal Virtues and the Heavenly Graces.

Humility is a Christian not Cardinal Virtue.

The old man’s contact with the sea inspires within him humility, more than any other Virtue.

How can it be disgraceful to accept charity when it is one of the Graces?  In accepting charity from the boy, the old man is allowing Manolin to show a Grace and rejecting it would be churlish (mean) and disgraceful.

Santiago derives his sense of virtues from his closeness with the sea.  He regards fish, not as a fisherman, but as a poet.

Page 10

 

He ekes out a very austere existence and lives in a spartan ‘shack’ with very few home comforts.  Hemingway tells us that something is under ‘his shirt’; he indicates that Santiago only has two shirts – the one he is wearing and the clean one.

The old man has never lost faith or given up hope and even after ‘eighty-four days without taking a fish’ he still remains optimistic that the next day will be a good one ‘eighty-five is a lucky number’.

Page 11

One of the ways in which the old man keeps his hope and faith is to engage in hero worship.  In contrast to the commandment ‘thou shalt not worship false idols’ (Exodus 20), Joe DiMaggio (1914-1999) is used as a role model for the kind of fortitude he needs to show (‘have faith…think of the great DiMaggio’)

Page 12

Santiago is content to go without and live an austere life:

‘First you borrow, then you beg’

He feels that if he was to borrow, the next step would be to beg, and that would show ‘loss of true pride’ and drain his self-esteem.

The boy cares and shows compassion for the old man (‘keep warm old man’)

Santiago is a ‘strange old man’; he is very old yet still powerful.  There is a sense that he is deriving his physical strength from his moral strength; there is something Wordsworthian in the old man’s residual fitness.

One of the most obvious characteristics of the old man’s simplistic life is that ‘he was barefoot’.  The old man lives a very religious life; a measure of his piety is that he goes ‘barefoot’.

Page 13

Martin is the owner of the café on the terrace.  He gives the old man and the boy some food; he makes a charitable donation and exhibits the Heavenly Grace of charity.  Martin is ‘very thoughtful’ towards Santiago and Manolin; he has given them food ‘more than once’.  He takes pity on the old man and shows compassion.

The old man thinks the boy’s willingness to take the empty beer bottles is ‘very kind’ and inspires gratitude in Santiago.

Page 14

Santiago teaches the boy to be morally strict with himself:

        ‘Why am I so thoughtless?’

The old man inspires a rigid self-discipline within the boy.

Both the old man and the boy look up to baseball stars.  A very important part of their upbringing is to have an older and more impressive role model to look up to.

Another famous base ball player, Dick Sisler (1920-    ), visited the Terrace, but the old man and the boy were ‘too timid’ to ask him to go fishing with them:

‘I know.  It was a great mistake.  He might have gone with us.  Then we would have had that for all of our lives.’

They would have had something to live by, something to inspire them in times of difficulty.

Page 15

        ‘There are many good fishermen and some great ones.  But there is only you.’

The boy hero-worships the old man.  He is saying that Santiago is in a class by himself because he exhibits the Cardinal Virtues such as fortitude, and some others such as humility and selflessness.

Join now!

Page 16

The old man is willing to recognise his own inadequacies:

        ‘I may not be as strong as I think’

The old man comes to terms with his shortcomings and recognises that he may have overestimated his strength.  He is a self-deprecating, prudent (careful to avoid undesired consequences) old man, prudence being a cardinal virtue.

Santiago is careful not to over commit himself because he fears that he may lack the necessary personal resources.

But he consoles himself that he has resolution (‘I have resolution’) and the capacity to endure.  He knows that he ...

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