Comparing Sacrifice In The Old Man And Saving Private Ryan

Nature is a recurring force throughout literature and in everyday life. It has its cheritable qualities but also has an extremely ruthless and different side to it. Nature takes no prisoners and affects a situation no matter what circumstance. Two works that deal with this aspect of nature are The Old Man and the Sea and Saving Private Ryan. The Old Man and the Sea and Saving Private Ryan, both stories of loyalty, honor and sacrifice, portray the battle between man’s will and nature’s force, demonstrating the victorious unstoppable quality of nature. Both Saving Private Ryan and Old Man and the Sea, show the main characters on a mission to accomplish a feat extremely important and reflective of their own character. In their mission, they …show more content…
He was extremely exhausted, physically worn out, and still only dips his hand into the ocean to take a small break, wanting to still complete his goal of catching the marlin. This again can be proven by what makes up a fisherman, how he lives his life and what he shows pride in every single day. “The core of the novel’s action is fishing. To the hero, fishing is not simply of contest in life. It contains profound philosophic meaning. In addition, two details, the baseball match and the hand wresting with the Negro, like fishing, symbolize the contest in life” (Xie Web). To Santiago, fishing summed up his entire life, and to be successful at it he must show great honor, loyalty, and sacrifice. Not only was being a fisherman reflective of his background, but his inner character that derives from taking pride in being a fisherman. As both works come to achieving this battle, they begin to transition to many color symbols that bring up the recurring force of nature. The several colors such as green and brown in Saving Private Ryan, and blue and silver in The Old Man and the Sea, are what bring works together, demonstrating nature as a recurring …show more content…
Some in particular were shown to exactly exemplify these distinct qualities nature possesses. In the film Saving Private Ryan, the loss of captain miller shows that nature was an inevitable and unstoppable force in literature and in life. “Captain Miller after already loosing two of his men decides that Ryan and his fellow soldiers cannot hold the point on their own and that he and his men will aid the already weakened defenders in hopes of not only defending the bridge from the Germans but also to save Private Ryan from what would other-wise be his inevitable death” (Admin Web). As Captain Miller’s death was shown here to be “inevitable” the question rises to why it was described in that sense. The answer to an almost predictable end of most works within literature and film, lie within the distinct features nature possesses. “Nature is a force and not something that can be changed it is only coped with (Macon Web).” Based on the critical evidence, this was why the death of Captain Miller had occurred; nature itself had to take a piece of something as it always does. Nature may never be stopped, and it will always be presented