The Old Man and The Sea

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Trouble at Sea

Ernest Hemingway 's story The Old Man and the Sea depicts the life of a Cuban fisherman , Santiago , who struggles with the catch of his life , a marlin . The following essay will expound upon the character development as is seen in pages 46-82 . The conflict between man and nature will be the prevelant argument of the as well as the transformation of the main character as he battles against nature (i .e . the marlin . Thus the juxtaposition between

society and nature is a main theme of the story

The character development of the fisherman can be seen through the literary device of making the environment reflect the character : in their moods , feelings , thoughts , personality , etc . Hemingway was very adept at this type of literary writing "Why did they make birds so delicate and fine as those sea swallows when the ocean can be so cruel She is kind and very beautiful . But she can be so cruel and it comes so suddenly and such birds that fly , dipping and hunting , with their small sad voices are made too delicately for the sea (29 , thus , the passage refers not only to the bird , but to the old man as delicate and the sea being too cruel to him

Since the sea can easily be the twin of Santiago in this story , in his character development and analyzing him , the focus of the will be on the sea . Since the marlin that Santiago catches is a part of the sea , the theme of the novel is that of conquering one 's own life or taking control of life instead of having life lead , fulfilling destiny (or in this case Santiago 's unluckiness , making sure that he tries to find his own power , as Hemingway writes of the old man 's struggle with the marlin "Fish , I love you and respect you very much . But I will kill you dead before this day ends (54 . However , in a very Hemingway style the marlin is eaten by sharks and Santiago is left with no catch for his struggle . Thus , the theme of the story of taking control enters into a very Transcendental story in which nature wins over man . The nature of this story seems to rest with human relationships , and Santiago 's struggle is really for companions , that is , Manolin , whose parents had forbidden him to fish with the old man because of his bad luck . Thus the story deals with issues that were favored by the Transcendentalists such as Emerson and Thoreau however with Hemingway 's unique style of writing the story becomes a transformation of man having been exposed to nature , having battled with nature and lost that the focus of the story becomes a focus not of bad luck (as is the motif of the old man according to the village people ) but of beating the odds . In this case the odds are beat because the old...