phyllis young

Running head: THE FUTURE OF ORGANIC FOOD.

Surname1

Name: Tami Goldwire-Major

Instructor: Mrs. Field

Course: English 112

Columbia College

The Old Man and the Sea

The book is a short novel authored by Ernest Hemingway in Bimini, Bahamas in the year 1951. The publication however took place the following year. This was one of the greatest fiction works produced by Ernest during the days he was still alive. The plot of the story begins with the main character being seen as a great loser (Rao, 2007), having gone for several days without catching anything .This masterpiece is an illustration of an epic struggle between a seasoned, old fisherman and what would be considered the greatest catch of his lifetime. For a cool 84 days, the old man with the name Santiago who is aged and from the Cuban origin has been going to the sea and coming back with his hands empty.

Mandolin is a young, devoted friend and apprentice who have been fishing with him all this time. He is considered a salao (Hemingway, 1952), which basically is a reflection on his lack of luck. The parents of this young man seeing how unlucky the old man is, decides to let him try another boat, considered more prosperous. The boy considered this advice and left the old man for some time during which they caught three good fish for the first week of their operation. However, the boy continued being saddened by the manner in which the old man was struggling (Rao, 2007). Most of the times, he would help him carry either his coiled lines or in some instances he would help him carry the harpoon and the gaff. At one time, the boy implored him that they could go together again since they had made some money. The boy had been taught on how to fish by the old man. For this reason, the old man developed a love for him.

The old man would reply on the negative to the advances made by the young boy. He says that the other boat the boy had worked in had luck and therefore he should pursue its course. The old man has quite a strong personality. In the middle of their conversation with the young boy, especially concerning going to fish together, he displays a rare composure. As the two sat on the Terrace taking a beer, we are told that the other fishermen passed by, making fun of the old man. However, he remained resolved, calm and not angry from the negative comments that come from these fishermen.

Despite being pushed by the parents to depart from this old fisherman, the young boy resolved to continue caring for the old man each night he got home from the sea. He prepares food for the old man, and goes ahead to engage the old man in American baseball discussions. The outstanding topic that the duo discussed is the trials of Joe DiMaggio. Joe is a hero to the old man. The old man, Santiago is so confident that one day, he will certainly get lucky and come home with a huge harvest. On this resolve, he decides to have his boat sail farther than his usual terminal points in the sea. This seemed as taking an extra step of faith into getting what had been seen to be impossible.

He did as he had decided on the previous day, on the 85th day of the sequential lack of success and luck. The boat was sailed farther than he had been doing the other days of his fishing. He ventures farther into the Gulf Stream. He does the usual thing, prepares his lines and drops them deep into the waters, as opposed to the previous days during which he would fish on the shallow waters. Just at about noon, a big fish, called marlin takes his bait that had been placed by Santiago one hundred fathoms deeper into the waters. Santiago manages to have the fish hooked but is clearly unable to have it pulled into the boat. The reverse happens the fish begins to pull the boat. He is evidently unable to have the line tied to the boat as fast as possible. The worst fears comes into him, there is a possibility that the fish would snap the taut line. He seems quite resolved to bear the strain caused by the line with his back, shoulders and hands.

He is willing and ready to give some slack in case the fish makes a run.

Throughout the night and day (Hemingway, 1952), the fish pulls the boat. This cycle continues for two more nights and two more days. The swimming is steady towards the northwest, but when marlin gets tired, the swimming takes place to the east with the help of the currents and tides of the sea. This entire time, the old man has been enduring the pain that has been caused by the line, evidently taut. Anytime there is a leaping, dashing for freedom, the fishing line cuts Santiago quite sharp and badly. He is evidently weary and wounded.

Despite this, he can still feel some admiration and empathy for the big fish, marlin. The fish becomes tired on the third day of the struggle, and though Santiago is extremely tired, deprived of energy and very delirious, he manages to pull the fish closer to the boat, consequently killing it. With the thrust of a harpoon, he manages to have the fish killed. He pulls this large fish into the boat. The surprise is as good as mine, this is the largest fish the old man has even seen in his entire time as a fisherman in the sea. After lashing the fish into the boat, the small mast is raised and begins to sail in the direction of his home. The excitement and the giggling is as huge as we would expect, the victory has finally come.

Santiago begins to imagine the huge price that will be attracted by the fish. This is just but one feeling, the other thing that he feels all through as he heads home is that the people eating the fish may fail to recognize the its own greatness(Hemingway, 1952). This shows another attribute in the old man. He appreciates effort. He has caught the fish and witnessed the manner in which it struggled to get off the hook. Many people would eat the fish, not thinking of the struggle it went through trying to free itself from the hook. The old man however remembers exactly how the fish struggled and got off the hook after three days of struggle. The other part of his attributes is his patience. We are told in the play that when trying to free itself, the fish made several breaks and wounds on the man that the old man ended up feeling very weak. Despite this struggle, he remains patient to get the fish.

As the old man is sailing with the fish going home, the big fish’s blood makes marks on the water by leaving a blood trail on the water. This blood trail becomes an attraction for the sharks. The mako shark attacks first, which is successfully dealt with by Santiago, using his harpoon. He manages to kill this one. However, in the progress of the struggle with the mako shark, something bad and negative takes place. In the struggle (Hemingway, 1952), he loses some valuable lengths of his rope and the harpoon. This leaves him to be exposed and vulnerable to attacks from the other sharks. With the other predators coming in, he fights them as best as he can. He uses a crude spear made from lashing the knife he had on the oar. He manages to kill several of these sharks.

However, with more of these sharks coming (Hemingway, 1952) by night fall, the old man continued fight with these sharks becomes extremely useless. The marlin’s meat is devoured with only a skeleton, tail and the head left. He chastises himself for venturing too deep into the sea and sacrificing the great effort that had been pulled by the opponent. Before daybreak, he makes his way home and gets into quite a deep sleep in his shack. When other fishermen see the skeleton and the carcass of the marlin the following morning, they are amazed. The tourists around the place, without knowing the struggle that had been put in place by the old man mistake this skeleton and carcass to be those of the sharks.

When Manolin, who has been worried over the absence of the old man for such a time, finds him sleeping on the bed, he is moved to tears. As usual, being at the service of the old man, he fetches some coffee and newspapers containing some news on baseball for the old man. The old man wake up and finally agree with the young man that they would fish with the young man once again.

Apart from the very rich language that is used in the book (Valenti, 2002) the book also carries a lot of inner meaning and depth that is portrayed from the life of the old man and in this essay has been brought out as the themes. Several themes come out of this play. One of the most outstanding ones is pride as the source of determination and greatness several parallels can be drawn between Santiago and the classic heroes of the ancient society. The heroes of the ancient world show terrific bravery, strength and moral certainty.

However, there is this negative trait always found in them. They usually have the attribute of tragic flow, which is an admirable quality. However, it usually leads to an eventual downfall of such people. Santiago is quite different (Hemingway, 1987), he possesses all these qualities. Despite the pride being his fatal flaw, he is well aware of the same. After the marlin being destroyed by the sharks, the old man runs an apology to the worthy opponent. He concedes to have destroyed them both by sailing far much beyond the boundaries in which he should have.

Actually, the last words he mentions that he had gone too far. He says, “Nothing . . . I went out too far (Hemmingway, 1975).” The old man’s pride motivates the desire to transcend the destructive nature forces. Throughout this novel, despite the old man failing on several occasions to catch any fish, he is so determined to continue with the hope that a good day will certainly come. In fact he struggles to bring the marlin home.

On his way as he is sailing through from the sea, he encounters several sharks, battles with many of them before finally giving up when he is overwhelmed. Just within a space of two paragraphs, the efforts of this man are shown. The author says that he hit the shark without hope but with a lot of resolution.

Additionally, in the same space, the author mentions that every challenge met by the old man was met with unwavering determination.

We find Santiago turning one of most negative traits in a human into a tool in his struggle to help him in his resistance and struggle, and this trait is pride. In his straight verge of victory, he turns his pride into a very crucial (Hemingway, 1987); tool since he acts in a way to make sure that at the end he can prove himself worthy of being called a role model for the young boy mandolin. He struggles with the marlin and the shark all for pride. However, this is not the case for this old fisherman. He keeps persisting in the middle of all this frustration since we see him keeping on trying. His persistent and endurance drives him into sailing further and further into the ocean holding on to the hope of catching fish. Against all odds (Hemmingway, 1975), he overcomes his frustrations, and he sails deeper into the ocean than he had never done before.

Santiago faces a major struggle with the marlin for three days and nights despite the facts that he was suffering from too much exhaustion, lack of enough food as well suffering from physical pains. He struggles with the fish as it keeps on taking in false bites and when it finally does, it is too strong and keeps pulling Santiago (Hemmingway, 1975) but Santiago does not let go. He struggles and fights with it till the fish tires and dies, and Santiago emerges as the victor. Santiago is also faced with a situation where he has to fight a shark which is a very intense battle that seems almost hopeless for Santiago.

However, this does not change his stand since there is not he could let the fish defeat him. We find Santiago changing strategies and using a number of tactics when the struggle gets awfully hard and despair in the aim of fueling his resistance. However(Hays, David, 2007) it should be noted that the pride that Santiago used can be beast referred to as constructive pride since contrary to the normal it is not a source of difficulties for him but a source of power and victory. Santiago also knows his limits when it comes to pride and uses it as a source of motivation,

We see in the battle to bring the marlin home, that he was determined to die, just to have it get home. He is also determined and willing to die in fighting the sharks. He resolves to defeat at all costs. Despite the fact that he gets to Havana without something to show for the battle, he returns with quite a lot of wisdom and knowledge that he has fought as a man and with a lot of pride. The author seems to allude to the fact that victory is not a requirement for honor. The glory however depends on the person’s ability to struggle throughout the process to the very end regardless of the result.

The other theme that comes out quite powerfully is that of honor in defeat, struggle and death. Right from the introductory paragraph, we are introduced to a man struggling against defeat. The 84 days he has spent in the cold without a fish is quite a frustration. Despite these frustrations and the glaring defeat in his eyes (Auer, 1984) he resolves to stand still and embrace positive thought. This is exhibited when he decides to sail into deeper sea where larger and better fish can be caught. In this endeavor, he lands marlin and resolves to fight with the sharks just for marlin to get home safe.

Both marlin and the old man face the possibility of being killed or to kill. The author portrays death as an inevitable eventuality (Valenti, 2002). Both the old man and the fish must therefore struggle to death. Santiago wins this duel. Therefore, the book is quite rich in knowledge and understanding, applicable in the modern setting. The lessons learnt from the manner in which the old man embraces defeat and deals with it manly are important in the modern society. The information is rich and full of impact.

Work cited

Auer, Jim. Ernest Hemingway's the old man and the sea. Woodbury, N.Y: Barron's, 1984. Print.

Hays, David, and Daniel Hays. My Old Man and the Sea: A Father and Son Sail Around Cape Horn. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1995. Print.

Hemmingway, Ernest. The Old Man And The Sea (braille). North Rocks: North Rocks Central School for Blind Children, n.d.. Print.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway. New York: Scribner's, 1987. Print.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man And The Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.

Rao, P. G. Ernest Hemingway's the old man and the sea. New Delhi: Atlantic, 2007. Print.

Valenti, Patricia D. Understanding The Old Man And The Sea a student casebook to issues, sources, and historical documents. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 2002. Print.