Tragic Vision of Hemingway’s “The Old man and the sea”

Tragic Vision of Hemingway’s “The Old man and the sea”

Introduction:

Ernest Hemingway (1898-1961) was one of the distinguished personalities of America and also known as the ‘Spokesman of the lost generation’ of American writers like William Faulkner, Scott Fitzgerald, John Don passes and Sinclair Lewis. These writers including Ernest Hemingway tried to show the effect of First World War had caused in social, moral and psychological mentality of human life. They also reveal the horror, the fear and the futility caused by the war. Hemingway has put into his novels the precise feelings, longings and frustrations that are typical of the lost generation. He is a typical modern man voicing the dilemma and delusion of the modern man.     

His major works:

Hemingway has written beautiful short stories. But he is more popular as a novelist. His most well known novels are;

ü  The Sun Also Rises                    (1926)

ü  A Farewell to Arms                     (1928)

ü   Death in the Afternoon               (1932)

ü   Greenhill’s of Africa                    (1935)

ü  To have and have notes               (1937)

Apart from all these works, his popular works are ‘A farewell to Arms’ and ‘the old man and the sea’

‘The old man in the sea’ depicts heroism of Cuban fisherman Santiago who ventures in to the deep sea alone and succeeds in hooking a huge Marlin. He struggles with the fish and after two days and nights of hunger and hard fight, he rows it towards the shore. The sharks set upon his prize and after a futile struggle with them, Santiago half dead with exhaustion, tows home the skeleton of the fish, the biggest Marlin ever baited there.

So from this novella Hemingway tries to show the hardship of an old man and his attempts to get victory from his one kind of nickname ‘The flag of permanent defeat ’which was given by the people who were living there in old man’s village but to the end of the novel old man shows his greatness and bravely affords to defeat a fish.

Let’s discuss in detail what are the struggles, hardship and tragic vision found in this novella. 

The Flag of Permanent defeat:

‘The old man and the sea’ is an epic struggle between and old, seasoned fisherman and the greatest catch of his life. His life became painful as he has set out to sea for eighty four days and after these all days struggle he even can find any victory or doesn’t get any fish into the sea. So, he calls ‘unlucky’ by the peoples which are living with him. He has done nothing which is praiseworthy. He has become a ‘laughing stock’ in his village. So ‘The flag of permanent defeat’ remains for a long time in his tragic life.

Another boy, Manoline is also staying with him for and longtime but his parents forced him not to go with an old man as he is an ‘unlucky man’. The boy helps Santiago, a fisherman a lot as he gives him daily newspapers and also updates old man’s favorite baseball player ‘Joe DiMaggio’. Old man compares himself with this player and he believes him as hero. Though he has tasted a defeat frequently, Santiago is hull of confidence that one day he will do something praiseworthy. He is full of hope that his unproductive streak will soon come to end. Though he has struggle a lot himself but throughout this novel he comes out a brave figure and real sense a martyr. Both Santiago and Marlin display qualities of pride, honor and bravery they must kill or to be killed. The situation like     “Do or Die”  

“But man is not made for defeat he said’

A man can be destroyed but not defeated"

Thought he gets the name of loser of permanent defeat but entire the novella he comes out as a real hero which is able to take place into the audience’s hearts.

The honor in struggle, defeat and death :

From the very beginning of the novel we get vision of Santiago as a struggling figure throughout this novel during his sea voyage. He has passed eight-four days even without catch up any fish. This is very hard to bear it not only for Santiago but also for anybody. Nobody likes to defeat or to loss something  as of  a long time approximating eight-four days.  Then what is going into the mind of the old man who has been tolerating such a moniker of ‘Permanent Defeat’.

Old man never loses his self-reliance as he make his mind up to another sea voyage and  this time will come with something adventures.  Old man said:

“I may not be as strong as I think but

I know many tricks And I have resolution”

He lands Marlin( a big fish) and he is trying to break his record of eighty seven days added a brutal three day fight with a fish, and he continues to ward off sharks from  passing the struggle of three days with Marlin, Santiago faced another big fight against sharks. On another side he is struggling and fighting with sharks because the sharks are following the blood of Marlin and it is not trouble-free for Santiago to move toward  from this predicament easily.

                  Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact then, when luck

Nature  vs Man :

Human being a social animal, one or two ways always fighting and struggling in their lives. The crisis is that he/ she has to longing to do something or to get something.  In the race of to get success many elements are playing its part to survive their existence also. Apart from this nature is also playing a fundamental character to survive the existence of human being. All these stuffs we can find in Santiago’s life.  If a person lives a life without perturbing into the way of Nature then there is no problem but whenever you disrupted nature it takes hard march towards you that we can see in the life of Santiago. He wants to come out from his chain of loser and fight against nature (Marlin) and he has struggled more then he believes.

We can see that the tale as a chronicle of man’s battle against nature. Whenever the old man tries to come out form his tragic vision a time nature became heavy on him. When he defeats Marlin and returns from his voyage at a time sharks attack on his and he fights stanchly with the sharks. Tragedy encounters this old man through every vision into his life, leaving him with the realization of what has become. Santiago faces the realization of pain when he comprehends the fact that the fish will never be brought to shore. This hurt and agony the old man sees and feels is a pain that many do not feel. His life right before his eyes, agony with his dreams and desires were washed always with the sea. Santiago tried to become one with him but the task at one hand never seemed to be fulfilled. Although he can’t get a fish Marlin but he tried to all his potential ways to get it and finally he gets and able to reach a sea shore but with only the skeleton of Marlin. By this exciting activity he tries to come out from a defeated persona.

Once again Santiago counties to involve himself into the world’s tragic vision when he makes a remark:

“I do not understand these things

But it its good that we do not

Have moon or the stars. It is

Enough to live on the sea and

Kill our true brothers”

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 shows the tragic picture of old man’s life in facing and struggling with nature. Thus, Hemingway described the image of the world. He seems to believe that there only one way defeat or endure until destruction.

“Luck is a thing that comes in many

Forms and who can recognize her? ”

Santiago: A hero of Hemingway’s tragically vision:

Santiago a most struggling character through this novel with his eight four days journey. Though he gets overwhelm many times but Hemingway portraits his character as a hero.  Passed away 84 days without losing hope he dares to voyage to the sea and hardly trapped one fish in his tactic but he has to struggle a lot because Marlin pulls his boat into the sea for three days and after this decisive fight he only gets the skeleton of a Marline. He also loves and gives respect to his opponents as he said:

“Because I love you, I have to kill you”

“Fish he said softly aloud I will stay with you until I am dead”

From this line we can compare an idea of a poet John Keats that he said beauty can be comprehended in this moment before death; as beauty bows to destruction, Santiago though destroyed at the end of novella is never defeated. Instead he emerges as a hero. Santiago’s struggle doesn’t enable him to change man.

“Let him think that I am more man

Than I am and I will be so”

His last word on the subject comes when he asks himself the reason for undoing and decides.

“Nothing … I went out too far”

While it is true that Santiago’s eighty four day run of bad luck is an affront to his pride as a masterful fisherman and that his attempt to bear out his skills by sailing far into the gulf waters leads to disaster. Hemingway doesn’t characterize him with full of pride but a person who is very responsible about, his behavior which was shown in fight with a fish.

From his character writer wants to demonstrate the vision into the readers mind that pride motivates to greatness. Because the old man acknowledges that he killed the mighty Marlin largely out of pride and because his capture of Marlin leads in turn to his heroic transcendence of defeat, pride becomes the source of Santiago’s greatest strength. Without the effect of the pride the battle would not be possible to win for Santiago. It not his victory on creatures but it is his victory to bitterness of society and comes out the nuisance of ‘Unlucky’ or ‘The Flag of Permanent defeat’

Throughout the novel no matter how malevolent his journey is , but at the end of novel he proves that if a person has confidence or zeal to do something then nobody stop them they are ready to fly and wins the every battle of life.

“It’s silly not to hope

It’s a sin he thought”

Conclusion:

Hemingway described a martyr character, Santiago in gorgeous way. What are the struggles, acrimony, and ruggedness of society we can see in Santiago’s life? People believed him as an ‘unlucky’ and ‘The flag of permanent defeat but his struggles, his arrogance, and his high regard makes him a graceful personality. Nature is a part of life and it also plays its role as we saw in Santiago’s life. But Santiago proved that if we have buoyancy to do something than the thing absolutely achieve. Although Santiago taken the skeleton of Marline fish but he wins the hearts of the readers.