Old Man & the Sea - Interpretive Essay

In this essay, I am going to discuss my own personal interpretation of The Old Man and the Sea, in regard to the theme that this book is about a man's fight against adversity. I will emphasize upon the symbolic usage in the book, its content, as well as what I find to be the meaning wherein. I will cite quotes that serve as example and support my thoughts. The Old Man and the Sea is the compelling story of a man's willful struggle against a long-running streak of bad luck in his fishing, as the novel constructively portrays his effort to overcome and achieve victory over his misfortune with a sense of pride. Ultimately, I interpret this book's underlying major theme to be about the battle to conquer nature. Within the book's context, the old man's attempt to triumph over the natural world takes place internally as well as externally. When it comes to the story's written structure, the author, Ernest Hemingway, utilizes a great deal of simplistic vocabulary and a "to-the-point" writing style in his narration of the book. "Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated." (Hemingway, Pg.10) "

This style of exposition is most evident in Hemingway's choice of words, which predominantly suggest a lack of adornment, thus allowing the words used to be capable of meaning many different ideas. The book is written in a way that is simple and concrete in description, giving the tale a broader, more evident sense of imagination. As a result of this, there is a considerable amount of room left in the story for the reader to construe what is present in the story and what it all means to him in his own mind. The vast richness in description makes available a much deeper meaning in the context of the tale, lending to the plot a greater sense of range and scope in present emotional and symbolic themes. "All my life the early sun has hurt my eyes, he thought. Yet they are still good. In the evening I can look straight into it without getting the blackness. It has more force in the evening too. But in the morning it is painful." (Hemingway, Pg.33) "He could not see the green of the shore now but only the tops of the blue hills that showed white as though they were snow-capped and the clouds that looked like high snow mountains above them. The sea was very dark and the light made prisms in the water." (Hemingway, Pg.40)

In the beginning of the book, Hemingway immediately introduces the reader to the main character of the story, Santiago, otherwise referred to as "the old man". The other character that is presented in the introduction of the novel is Santiago's young friend Manolin, who is his apprentice in fishery. In my own experience of reading about the correlation between the old man and his novice, I found that the two characters' relationship came across as being a strong representation in the symbolic quality of the book. The significance of their bond in the story, for me, symbolizes the love, affection and understanding that is shared between a father and his son. When they are together, in the beginning and end of the book, there is a great deal of chemistry, which makes for some interesting plot sequencing. "It made the boy sad to see the old man come in each day with his skiff empty and he always went down to help him carry either the coiled lines or the gaff and harpoon and the sail that was furled around the mast." (Hemingway, Pg.9) "The old man had taught the boy to fish and loved him." (Hemingway, Pg.10) "The boy saw the old man was breathing and then he saw the old man's hands and he started to cry." (Hemingway, Pg.122)

Another theme in the book that is apparently one of deep connotation, and perhaps the most prevailingly evident and deepest theme, is the old man's connection to the wilderness. I believe that his relationship to nature symbolizes the universal bond between man and earth; one of love, labor and conflict. It represents the harshness of life and the fight to survive in the wilderness, as well as emphasizing upon the love and pride for creating one's own life from the earth. This relationship stands out in my mind as an expressive reference to the oldest (and typically hardest) ways of life. I also find that, in even deeper meaning, the theme is about unity to all that is seen in the natural world, giving the old man a sense of knowingness and peace within himself. The following are direct quotations from the book that, I think, are wonderful examples of the old man's relationship to nature: "The iridescent bubbles were beautiful. But they were the falsest thing in the sea and the old man loved to see the big sea turtles eating them." "He loved green turtles and hawk-bills with their elegance and speed and their great value and he had a friendly contempt for the huge, stupid loggerheads, yellow in their armour-plating, strange in their lovemaking, and happily eating the Portuguese men-of-war with their eyes shut." "He was sorry for them all, even the great trunk backs that were as long as the skiff and weighed a ton. Most people are heartless about turtles because a turtle's heart will beat for hours after he has been cut up and butchered. But the old man thought, I have such a heart too and my feet and hands are like theirs." (Hemingway, Pgs. 36-37)

An additional theme found in this book, being of symbolic quality, is the ideal in Santiago's heroism. When I say this, I am emphasizing upon the significance that courage and pride play in this plot. It is a key factor in the way the story is represented and interpreted in various ways. Throughout the novel, the old man keeps a primarily optimistic outlook on things, always keeping within him a sense of pride and dignity, which is what plays an immense role in his character, as well as the story's outcome. For instance, in the climactic scene between Santiago and the great marlin at sea, the old man fights to bring in the fish for a whole two days, never giving up, even in the midst of great physical pain on his end in doing so. When he does defeat the marlin at last, that is a very powerful moment in the story. I see this victory as symbolizing the triumph and will of man that has existed since the beginning of time, the drive that has kept man on top of the world for so long. "Then when he had seen the fish and he had only to look at his hands and feel his back against the stern to know that this had truly happened and was not a dream. Then when he had seen the fish come out of the water and hang motionless in the sky before he fell, he was sure there was some great strangeness and he could not believe it. Then he could not see well, although now he saw as well as ever." (Hemingway, Pgs.98-99) However, the exaltation of conquest is a short-lived one when a group of sharks come in for the kill. The old man loses the marlin and goes back to shore with no proof of his achievement, except for the marlin's skeleton. I see the sharks in the story as representing the cruelty of fate, the unexpected adversary that comes into one's life in an effort to crush and destroy one's dreams. Yet, in spite of having lost what he had worked so hard to accomplish, there is still that great sense of heroism and a sort of spiritual pride felt in the old man's character. This theme is essential to the story because, despite being beaten in the end by forces beyond his control, he had in fact, won. "He was too simple to wonder he when he had attained humility. But he knew he had attained it and he knew it was not disgraceful and it carried no loss of true pride." (Hemingway, Pgs.13-14) Even in losing to the sharks, he had defeated nature. As the sharks prove, triumph is never final. There will always be another obstacle to challenge you. And yet, despite this, the old man had accomplished what he intended to carry out, no matter what odds stood against him, and that is what I believe is a theme in the book that really stands out. It is the quintessential spirit of all heroism, a true sense of nobility. "'But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.'" This quote is especially shown as true at the closing of the book, after the old man has fallen asleep soon after his return to land. It is a strong symbol that is in direct correlation to the theme of heroism and man's unwillingness to be defeated: "Up the road, in his shack, the old man was sleeping again. He was still sleeping on his face and the boy was sitting by him watching him. The old man was dreaming about the lions."