Analysis of Tragic Elements in Old Man and the Sea
Analysis of Tragic Elements in Old Man and the Sea
During a hardship of mishap and unlucky surroundings, one man dares to face the battle. This man shows the true meaning of what life is like to be a fisherman. In the tragic vision of Ernest Hemingway’s novel Old Man and the Sea, Santiago struggles to fight a life-long battle that ceases to end. Tragedy encounters this old man through every aspect of his life, leaving him with the realization of what he has become.
In Old Man and the Sea, Santiago faces the realization of pain when he comprehends the fact that the fish will never be brought to shore. This hurt and agony that this one man sees and feels is a pain that many do not feel. His life right before his eyes, along with his dreams and desires, were washed away with the sea. Santiago tried so desperately to become one with himself, but the task at hand never seemed to be fulfilled.
Santiago’s epic journey is one through individualism and the escape from the world. Tragically, the world found him. Throughout this entire novel, the old man continually compared himself to a great baseball player, Joe DiMaggio. Time and time again, Santiago uses DiMaggio to contrast with his own life. The pain of not catching the fish digs in his side like a spur from a boot when he cannot let go of the fact that he let Joe DiMaggio down. Here in this context, Santiago is no longer himself or an individual. He uses others over and over again to weigh his own life when the result in the end is and always has been is his boundless pain.
Once again Santiago continues to entrap himself into the world’s scrutiny when he makes a remark such like this one. “I do not understand these things, he thought. But it is good that we do not have to kill the sun or the moon or the stars. It is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers” (Hemingway 75). He clearly states that he does not understand the world yet he continues to try to coincide to what the world wants him to be. This is a clear picture of what a tragic life this old man must face in the days of his reckoning.
The pain of apprehension that he has become...