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The Old Man And The Sea

Uploaded by tyson_626 on Feb 23, 2005

The Old Man And The Sea

In Earnest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway allows the old fisherman to overcome the odds and renew belief in him within his heart. After struggling with a giant marlin for three-days, Santiago finally harpoons the great fish, Santiago's faith within himself rises and he exclaims, " I have killed this fish which is my brother and now I must do the slave work." Through Hemingway's fisherman tale and Santiago's apparent victory over the marlin, the "theme of the undefeated" (Wells 56) is presented along with the "moral triumph and smashing defeat" (Wells 56) that Santiago experiences. "At its core it is actually little more than a fishing anecdote, though one invested with an heroic appeal by the writer's art, confirms its natural affinity with the theme of the combat" (Rhav, "Hemmingway") between the old man and his obstacle. Santiago becomes the embodiment of courage, endurance and discipline as Hemingway explores the "tragic irony of man's fate" (Burhans 260). " No abstraction can bring man an awareness and understanding of independence, he must learn it through the agony of active, and isolated individualism." (Burhans 260) Returning from his strenuous encounter with a giant marlin and the eventual loss of the carcass to sharks at the end Santiago emerges as a hero figure. "Hemingway's novel makes profound inquires into the possibilities of heroism." (Gurko 277) The Old Man and the Sea "emphasizes the obstacles towards achieving heroism, and define the world's limitations." (Gurko 277) Through Santiago's heroic victory after capturing the great marlin, his faith of himself becomes rehabilitated as now he is considered a hero.

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Uploaded by:   tyson_626

Date:   02/23/2005

Category:   Literature

Length:   1 pages (272 words)

Views:   9872

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