The Old Man and The Sea
a relook at the Hemingway classic
This was originally written as part of an assignment to positively review a piece of literature you had a negative perception about the first time you read it.
My brother bought me a few books last year. One of them was ‘ The Old Man and the Sea’ - a classic short story, which won its author - Ernest Hemingway - the Nobel Prize for Literature. Being a voracious reader, I leaped at the 100 page long, flimsy book and finished it in a jiffy, as far as I can remember. But by the end of it, I couldn’t understand what it was about. I found no merit in it, whatsoever. An old man - repeating things, trying to catch fish but in vain and finally, getting chased by sharks. I couldn’t fathom when the story started and when it ended. So, I picked up the book again to have a relook (honestly though, I picked it up because it was short and I could finish the assignment).
In my journey of book reading, the one thing I have realized is that all stories need not have a classic flow - an introduction, a climax, a resolution and a happy ending. The journey is what matters. Small paragraphs and some dialogues are so deep that you don’t have to wait for some resolution. So, I tried the same with this book. I took down notes side by side and took pains to understand the symbolism (I have heard it has a lot of it). I must confess, I haven’t experienced a revolutionary change of mind. But definitely, I won’t discard it as a useless piece of literature now.
The story is about man’s predicament. It shows how man spends his entire lifetime scrambling for things, fighting wars, waiting for luck and so on but everything comes down to ash. The futility of man’s belligerent attitude is the resounding message of this book. In line with Hemingway’s anti-war attitude, this book also brings out the fact that conflict leaves a victory with no survivors.
The protagonist of the story is seldom mentioned by name. He is “the old man” and nothing else. This seems to be a deliberate attempt to show that the man here represents the entire mankind or at least that part of humanity which has grown old struggling with the elements of life.
The old man sets sail for the sea, in an attempt to break his unlucky spell and catch big fish. At almost regular intervals, he talks with himself and longs for the company of the young boy who takes care of him. This perhaps, shows the exhaustion of the old man (to be read as warring mankind) and longing for innocent company. He chases a fish for over a day, having finally grabbed something, and cramps his hand in the process. He suffers physically, mentally and emotionally but he does not relent. Although this shows his resilience on one hand, on another it shows his illusory pride and ego to emerge victorious. This is evident when he says - “A man can be destroyed, but not defeated.” Later on, he goes on to regret his behavior at the end when he says, “I went too far.”
When he finally catches the fish, the poor animal is in a tortured, agonizing state. Although the old man feels a sense of achievement, the burden of the fish looms large on him. On his way back to the shore, he keeps lamenting, again and again, his cruelty. He says and I quote - “I am a tired old man. But I have killed this fish which is my brother and now I must do the slave work.” He confesses that the fish was as noble and proud as a human being but Man outshone it in trickery.
What Hemingway wishes to convey, in my opinion, is the fact that in the lust of power and material achievement, we often kill our own brethren. We kill our fellow beings who possess the same dignity as us. This leaves a deep void in our lives, a bitter resentment and sorrow over our own actions.
To make things worse, sharks chase the old man’s boat. One after the other, sharks hit the boat, bite at the fish and mutilate it. The old man uses his remaining power to kill the shark before the next one comes. Gradually, the entire fish which the old man had caught after excruciating pain is eaten away. This portrays another beautiful message. The fish (the victim) and the old man (the aggressor) are both united in a strange brotherhood against the sharks. The shark - a symbol of bad luck but more importantly, the inevitable consequence of bloodbath - appears as a common enemy for both of them.
By the end, the fish is gone, the old man’s hands are painted with the crimson of life and it ends where it all started. The old man is exhausted and spent and he sleeps in his bed while the young boy looks after him.
So while the story is pretty simple, the underlying message is profound. As the back cover of the book says, “The perfectly crafted story is a unique and timeless vision of the beauty and grief of man’s challenges to the elements in which he lives.” The book shows man’s audacity but in my opinion, its broader purpose is to tell Man that he is not supreme. That he must introspect and stop his rat-race to dominate others. That war is futile. That pride is dangerous.
I would like to end with a specific scene which the old man brings up repeatedly during the story. Strangely, whenever he sleeps, he dreams of young lions - chivalric, exuberant creatures basking the sunlight on golden beaches. He wonders why he doesn’t dream of slow turtles like himself - why does he dream of those lions who are so unlike him. Perhaps, Hemingway wishes to convey the old man’s desire to live a life of energy and youth, to put behind the dull exhaustion, to be like the young boy. It’s a beautiful image - a much needed escape from the grim happenings of the plot. It is a desire - to break free from shackles of conflict and power and live a life of true pride : a life of peaceful coexistence. Live and let live.
If you have read the book, let me know what you thought about it !