Santiago's Fight

There is an ongoing fight in life. It is a fight that requires intentional thought and effort. It is a fight choosing between what is truly important in life versus what people perceive as important. In the novel, The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway, there is a fight between a fish and a fisherman. In fiction, many authors manipulate ideas or perspectives specifically so that readers only know what they want them to know. In Hemingway’s case, he leaves ideas very open ended, which in effect, leaves readers to fill in the blanks. Readers determine their own meaning of every symbol or idea since there are a handful of perspectives people can look from when reading about day four of his short story. Hemingway uses concrete symbols and …show more content…
From another perspective, Santiago’s fight looks like a cry for attention. Throughout the fire, Santiago takes on this persona as a hero. He illustrates this by saying, “A man can be destroyed but not defeated” (Hemingway 103). Typically, heroes are the kind of people who strive for victory. They do not give up when faced with hard times. In Hemingway’s other novels, many of his protagonists are called heroes because they have a lot of similarities with the “romanticized figures” (Debata). What separates Santiago from being a traditional hero is his pride. He only killed the fish to say that he killed a big fish. He wanted all the glory and praise for himself. The fish symbolizes his pride. He even admits it to himself in his thoughts, “You did not kill the fish only to keep alive and sell for food, he thought. You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman” (Hemingway 105). This pride is the same kind of pride that affects people today. People are in this battle just like Santiago. It may not be a fish they are fighting for, but they are fighting for success, a higher salary, or a fancy job. Modern day society’s struggles mirror Santiago’s struggles and his ultimate desire to catch the fish. People’s selfish desire to gain praise and acceptance ultimately drive their fight to meet their crazy high standards. In today’s world, all of those things mentioned hold immense value. It is the materialistic …show more content…
It was a time when people did not know who they were. They did not have any values. They were not spiritual. They had no purpose. Simply put, they were lost hence the name “Lost Generation.” Because the story was so straightforward, critics believed there was a deeper meaning to it; they believed this story gave a “moral lesson” (Debata). A lot of ambiguity evolved from this novel. What is the deeper meaning? What does it symbolize? Hemingway thought otherwise; he did not believe there was a deeper meaning. He just thought he was telling a story about a fish and a fisherman. When Hemingway said he did not write this for any other purpose other than just to tell a story, critics seemed it as almost abnormal that he would not use his “famous iceberg principle” that had given his writing direction for most of his stories (Debata). This iceberg principle defines many of his writings. It suggests that the tip of the iceberg, or in this case what is said about Santiago, is not all there is. What is underneath the iceberg, the implied message, is the real substance to story. Just like an iceberg, people can see what is on top, but they cannot see below it. People have to go below the surface and see for themselves to get the full picture. Even though Hemingway says he does not use this principle, it still draws people in because there is much more to the story depending on the perspective.