Skip to main content

The Old Man and the Sea



Kill or be killed is one of the fundamental natural laws among animals. Life is tough in such a world and calls for certain qualities such as determination and endurance. Ernest Hemingway’s short novel, The Old Man and the Sea, is a tribute to determination and endurance.

Santiago is an aged fisherman. Of late he is beset with misfortune. Eighty-four days have gone by since he caught his last fish. The people around him are now convinced that he is hopelessly down on his luck so much so that even the boy Manolin, Santiago’s apprentice, is asked to stay away from the old man. Manolin continues to do some chores for Santiago but stops accompanying him to the sea.

On the 85th day, Santiago sails beyond the charted waters and hooks a huge marlin in the deep sea. The fish is too huge for him to manage and so he lets it drag the boat initially. Both Santiago and the fish know that they have to kill or be killed. Who will kill whom is the only question that remains.

On the third day the fish tires. Santiago has been surviving on raw fish for food. And he is determined to survive. He is too proud to give up. He has to prove that he is still a man. A “man can be destroyed but not defeated,” he tells himself. The fish can kill him or else he will kill the fish: there is no other option.

The fish is not his enemy, however. On the contrary, Santiago calls the fish his brother. He tells the fish, “Because I love you, I have to kill you.” The marlin is a worthy enemy who is as strong, determined and proud as Santiago. The fish has given Santiago a good fight, a noble fight, a worthy fight. But now the fish is tired and Santiago will kill him. The fish will be taken ashore and people will admire it before eating it. The people who will eat it are unworthy of its greatness, Santiago knows. But that can’t be helped. That is how the world is.

Finally Santiago kills the fish with his harpoon and ties it to the boat. It is too big to be dragged into the boat. So it has to be dragged along. But the sharks smell it.

Santiago reaches home on the fifth day morning and goes to sleep for a while. When Manolin wakes him up there is a crowd outside his hut admiring his prowess. However, by the side of his boat, there is nothing but the marlin’s skeleton left. The sharks had feasted on its flesh all along.

Santiago is not disappointed, however. He has proved something. He has proved that “a man can be destroyed but not defeated”. Santiago defeated the marlin and the sharks defeated Santiago. But the old man has a secret delight: he has challenged destiny. “I went too far,” he tells himself. He went too far into the ocean challenging one of nature’s laws. Nature is not kind. If you challenge nature, it will retaliate. However, heroism lies in the challenge and in the way you face the consequences. Santiago emerges as a hero. The people who mocked him till yesterday now view him with veneration.

Santiago goes back to sleep. And he dreams of lions at play. He has been a lion. That is what matters in the end. Never mind the skeleton that mocks him from the side of his boat.


PS. This is part of a series being written for the #BlogchatterA2Z Challenge. The previous parts are:
14. No Exit
Tomorrow: The Plague


Comments

  1. It is not even a full length novel. But it is so profound everyone should read it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Old Man and the Sea is such a celebration of the determined spirit of man.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have read it and I must say I finished in in one go. Couldn't afford to lose a moment in between. Really Engrossing. I loved his monologues while Santiago was in water. A lovely novel. Your review just once again took me there...Tina

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anyone who loves the spirit of hope and endurance will be engrossed by Santiago.

      Delete
  4. Determination can take a man places. Seems like an inspiring read. Love Hemingway's quote.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It does inspire. Hemingway is a Nobel laureate too.

      Delete
  5. Very intense and what a determination the man portrays. Yes, it is the fighting spirit that matters in the end! Very well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a work that Hemingway perfected by rewriting many times.

      Delete
    2. Oh, that's an interesting input. Thanks for sharing.

      Delete
  6. Read this book for the prompt “A book with no chapters / unusual chapter headings / unconventionally numbered chapters”. This one has no chapters. A simple yet profound story that makes you reflect and shares some amazing life lessons like persisting despite failures, accepting challenges, never give up...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's another interesting fact about this:no chapter division.

      Delete
  7. Always find it motivating, whenever I read.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, Sir I loved to read the story. You have penned it so well that I could visualize everything. Nice one.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The determination and the will, Santiago fought.. that's so motivational.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have read The Humming Bird... But not this... This book seems quite inspiring... And you have described it very beautifully

    ReplyDelete
  11. This book is a classic. I loved the inspiring lines and Santiago's character.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Santiago will continue to inspire people for years to come.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ayodhya: Kingdom of Sorrows

T he Sarayu carried more tears than water. Ayodhya was a sad kingdom. Dasaratha was a good king. He upheld dharma – justice and morality – as best as he could. The citizens were apparently happy. Then, one day, it all changed. One person is enough to change the destiny of a whole kingdom. Who was that one person? Some say it was Kaikeyi, one of the three official wives of Dasaratha. Some others say it was Manthara, Kaikeyi’s chief maid. Manthara was a hunchback. She was the caretaker of Kaikeyi right from the latter’s childhood; foster mother, so to say, because Kaikeyi had no mother. The absence of maternal influence can distort a girl child’s personality. With a foster mother like Manthara, the distortion can be really bad. Manthara was cunning, selfish, and morally ambiguous. A severe physical deformity can make one worse than all that. Manthara was as devious and manipulative as a woman could be in a men’s world. Add to that all the jealousy and ambition that insecure peo...

Abdullah’s Religion

O Abdulla Renowned Malayalam movie actor Mohanlal recently offered special prayers for Mammootty, another equally renowned actor of Kerala. The ritual was performed at Sabarimala temple, one of the supreme Hindu pilgrimage centres in Kerala. No one in Kerala found anything wrong in Mohanlal, a Hindu, praying for Mammootty, a Muslim, to a Hindu deity. Malayalis were concerned about Mammootty’s wellbeing and were relieved to know that the actor wasn’t suffering from anything as serious as it appeared. Except O Abdulla. Who is this Abdulla? I had never heard of him until he created an unsavoury controversy about a Hindu praying for a Muslim. This man’s Facebook profile describes him as: “Former Professor Islahiaya, Media Critic, Ex-Interpreter of Indian Ambassador, Founder Member MADHYAMAM.” He has 108K followers on FB. As I was reading Malayalam weekly this morning, I came to know that this Abdulla is a former member of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Kerala , a fundamentalist organisation. ...

Lucifer and some reflections

Let me start with a disclaimer: this is not a review of the Malayalam movie, Lucifer . These are some thoughts that came to my mind as I watched the movie today. However, just to give an idea about the movie: it’s a good entertainer with an engaging plot, Bollywood style settings, superman type violence in which the hero decimates the villains with pomp and show, and a spicy dance that is neatly tucked into the terribly orgasmic climax of the plot. The theme is highly relevant and that is what engaged me more. The role of certain mafia gangs in political governance is a theme that deserves to be examined in a good movie. In the movie, the mafia-politician nexus is busted and, like in our great myths, virtue triumphs over vice. Such a triumph is an artistic requirement. Real life, however, follows the principle of entropy: chaos flourishes with vengeance. Lucifer is the real winner in real life. The title of the movie as well as a final dialogue from the eponymous hero sugg...

Empuraan and Ramayana

Maggie and I will be watching the Malayalam movie Empuraan tomorrow. The tickets are booked. The movie has created a lot of controversy in Kerala and the director has decided to impose no less than 17 censors on it himself. I want to watch it before the jingoistic scissors find its way to the movie. It is surprising that the people of Kerala took such exception to this movie when the same people had no problem with the utterly malicious and mendacious movie The Kerala Story (2023). [My post on that movie, which I didn’t watch, is here .] Empuraan is based partly on the Gujarat riots of 2002. The riots were real and the BJP’s role in it (Mr Modi’s, in fact) is well-known. So, Empuraan isn’t giving the audience any falsehood as The Kerala Story did. Moreover, The Kerala Story maligned the people of Kerala while Empuraan is about something that happened in the faraway Gujarat quite long ago. Why are the people of Kerala then upset with Empuraan ? Because it tells the truth, M...

Empuraan – Review

Revenge is an ancient theme in human narratives. Give a moral rationale for the revenge and make the antagonist look monstrously evil, then you have the material for a good work of art. Add to that some spices from contemporary politics and the recipe is quite right for a hit movie. This is what you get in the Malayalam movie, Empuraan , which is running full houses now despite the trenchant opposition to it from the emergent Hindutva forces in the state. First of all, I fail to understand why so much brouhaha was hollered by the Hindutvans [let me coin that word for sheer convenience] who managed to get some 3 minutes censored from the 3-hour movie. The movie doesn’t make any explicit mention of any of the existing Hindutva political parties or other organisations. On the other hand, Allahu Akbar is shouted menacingly by Islamic terrorists, albeit towards the end. True, the movie begins with an implicit reference to what happened in Gujarat in 2002 after the Godhra train burnin...