The old man and the sea and his phrases
Introduction
Men are not made for defeat. They can be destroyed, but not defeat. This phrase, one of the most famous of the great American writer and journalist;Ernest Hemingway, can summarize the most important theme of the work the old and the sea. At the beginning of the work, Santiago, the protagonist, takes eighty -four days without fishing anything. From before the author mentions us, it can be deduced that Santiago had very bad luck because that time without fishing.
Any other person taking more than 80 days with this fate, surely he would have given up or, minimum, a break would be taken. However, Santiago does not stop and still have faith that he fished something and that is why he continues to fish every day. This is the first time that we notice the great perseverance that the protagonist has. Even Santiago had a companion, Manolin, being a boy, and since his parents had no faith in the old man, they no longer let him go fishing with Santiago for his bad luck.
Developing
The author of this work, Ernest Hemingway, communicates the central message of the work, which is not to give up, in many different aspects throughout the work. Perhaps this is reflected in his own life, to him have been part of the lost generation of writers, who were dedicated to writing about the pessimism and confusion that was lived after the First World War, since they had to take refuge in Europe andDo not give up in literature and in your own country.
The old man wakes up in the morning prepared to resist anything. Throughout his trip and fights with the fish, the reader knows perfectly what the old man is feeling with the help of the omniscient narrator. Thanks to this, the reader is not simply as a witness throughout history, but is knowing everything the same as the protagonist. Hemingway lets he know everything that he feels and thinks of Santiago, however, this leaves us dark in another aspect.
Here enters a very unique technique used by the author called the iceberg technique;The theory in question is simple. According to Hemingway, every story must reflect only a small part of the story, leaving the rest to the reader’s reading and interpretation, without evidencing the true background as happens with an iceberg. The old man never loses faith and always sees the good and positive side of everything, this helps him live a relatively happy life despite his old age and loneliness.
It also helps to ignore the criticisms of the people of the town. Santiago is undeniably full of admirable virtues that were surely the reason why Manolin admired him and wanted so much. He is a simple and humble man. As mentioned above, the author incorporates different samples of perseverance from the protagonist on many occasions.
However, the most predominant is the one that happens in the great fight of almost three days between the giant fish swords and Santiago. Here the protagonist shows a huge sense of perseverance in many ways and from very soon it is decided that he will remain as necessary;Fish, I stay with you until he dies. These are the words that Santiago tells the fish that show that he is determined to stay all the time to fish, even his own death.
Santiago speaks to the fish on numerous occasions that make clear the relationship between them and with nature in general, and it is a relationship of respect and love. The old man comes to tell the fish to love and respect him, and that he only killed by necessity;"Fish, I love you and respect you a lot. But you’re going to die before the end of the day.”(P.46) Another that subtly incorporates, but it is definitely a sample of the perseverance of the old man, it is the defeated fight he had with the huge black of Cienfuegos.
This friendly fighting fight lasted a whole day and a whole night, and in all that time Santiago never gave up to finally win, as well as with the fish. This is a proof that the author gives the reader that the protagonist has a lot.
He had decided that he could defeat anyone if he proposedly proposed. Santiago believed in himself and this was an indispensable tool in his battle against the fish. Thanks to this, he thought of himself and had the physical strength but especially psychological to support those two exhausted days of being incessantly with the interlaced rope in his hands, a packed and both bloody.
He suffers hunger and thirst, he was on the verge of fainting, but he did not let himself give in. He kept fighting the pain and needs of his body, ignores his cramp, ignores his thirst. All to a certain measure, of course, being a very intelligent man, he knows when he must eat and take, not to satisfy himself, but simply to survive. Although the old man had an enormous ability to endure any obstacle that was opposed to him, there was something against what he could not.
These were the sharks. Santiago had finally been able to fish to the great fish after an exhausting fight, but his happiness for this achievement did not last long because shark came to the shark to steal his trophy. The old man tried to fight them, but it was useless and there was nothing he could do to stop them to devour himself to the great sword fish that he had been tied to the side of his boat. It was not that the old man gave up, but that this time he accepted the reality that nothing he did was going to stop them.
conclusion
I did not have the tools to fight them was alone, in the dark and without weapons. It is for this event that the old man finally felt defeated, admits to Manolin that they defeated him, but it was only the sharks who destroyed him but the fish, no. Santiago did not get rid of the skeleton, but it was not to regain his honor, since he did not care about the criticism and opinions of the people of the people.
If not, he stays with the skeleton for the simple fact that if he had already gone through everything, he made sense to get rid of the mid -sea skeleton, the fish did not deserve that. Even Santiago regrets having killed the fish because it did not have a worthy end because of the sharks. He could no longer fulfill his good purpose of feeding many people. In this work, the protagonist was tested and destroyed, but is not defeated.
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