" The Old Man And The Sea" Ernest Hemingway

"The Old Man And The Sea"

       In " The Old Man And The Sea" Ernest Hemingway is regarded as one of the greatest modern. American novelists. He was a brilliant story- teller and his plots sustain the reader's interest in his stories throughout. In his novels, he generally deals with such universal theme as love, war pain, suffering and death. in "The Old Man And The Sea". It is the theme of pain and suffering which dominates over all other themes. Although the novel is packed with action and adventure. When we take an overall view of the novel, we discover that the action is merely on the surface and what is really important is the philosophy of Hemingway that:

"A man can be destroyed but not defeated".

      This is also the central theme of the novel. The old man,s suffering is both physical and mental. in fact what he goes through ultimately eliminates in a kind of martyrdom for Santiago. Philip Young calls the story:

"An epic metaphor for life contest in which, even the problem of right and wrong seems paltry, before the great thing, that is the struggle".

       In all his novel Hemingway has portrayed a protagonist who has been described as the Hemingway Hero or the Code Hero Santiago is also a typical Hemingway Hero. This Hero represents the moral and physical qualities which Hemingway himself cherished such as courage, dignity, sense of honor and endurance. The Hemingway's hero has been brilliants portrayed in the character of Santiago. Although he is an old man whose best days are behind him, he is not afraid to accept a challenge and he uses to give up just because he is threatened by death or disaster. The manner and physical discomfort, turns him into  a hero and his defeat into a triumph. Santiago, like Hemingway himself, strongly believed that:-

"Man is not made for defeat"

    Even when Santiago is completely exhausted, bleeding  and wounded, he does not give up his struggle. At the end of the novel, instead of retiring from his trade, he shows remarkable determination and resolve to fight again. This is both, an important message and an important theme of the novel. We are defeat only when we ourselves accept defeat and have no courage to fight again.

      The man who is neither afraid of the struggle or the outcome ,is never defeat Carlos Baker says-

"Santiago shows certain qualities of mind and heart, which are clearly associated with the character and personality of Jesus Christ in the gospel stories."