ANALYSIS ON 'THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA'

‘The old man and the sea’ written by Ernest Hemingway is based on the qualities of will, courage and determination. It is basically about how ‘Santiago’ who is the old man has an epic battle with and ridiculously large fish that he hooked in. The old man hasn’t caught a single fish in 84 days. As a result is looked down upon by the other fishermen. He hence lives a very quiet life and also isn’t eating that well. The story begins with the old man talking to his apprentice, a young boy named Manolin, who he had taught how to fish. In return the boy would get him some food. The boy is very enthusiastic to be on this fishing expedition but the old man strongly refuses. As the night came by the old man goes to bed, dreaming of the lions he once seen in Africa. It soon turns morning and having an alert mind of a fisherman, wakes up with the early morning breeze. Slowly, calmly and without much of a noise he gets his boat ready along with all the tools required for this trip and sets off into the deep ocean. He soon sets his hooks at different depths of the ocean. In no time does he hook in this really large fish, a Marlin, and there begins the struggle between man and fish. This epic battle lasts for three long tiring days. As the old man is all alone, he begins to talk to his hands and legs, as if telling them not to give up on him in his battle with the fish. Time passes by and as he is a poor eater, hunger doesn’t bother him much. His mind is only fixed on his oversized trophy which he wants to achieve at any cost. His determination is exceptional. He looks at the fish to be his brother but doesn’t twitch from the solution of killing it. He finally manages to kill the fish but then runs into a big problem, literally! The fish happens to be bigger than the boat and hence the old man is unable to bring the fish in it. As a solution he ties the fish alongside the boat and begins his long journey to homeland. On his way back, he is faced with a terrorizing problem. Sharks! The blood from the fish flowing into the deep blues attracted a number of sharks. They began to hit one by one ripping away mouthfuls of flesh off the large fish. But the old man wasn’t ready to give up. He tries hard to beat them off with first a harpoon, then a club and finally a simple knife. However he fails to drive them away and sits helplessly and watches his catch being robbed away. When he reaches his home all that remained of the fish was its skeleton. In tiredness and some disgust he calls it a day and goes to sleep while his fellow fishermen stare in astonishment at the skeleton of that large fish. The old man returns to his land of dreams where he is once again reunited with the lions and other animals of Africa.

Nigel D’Souza

Roll No. 08