HEMINGWAY: Plot and Significance of "THE OLD MAN and the SEA"

Sometimes, a novella such as THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA shares longevity, notoriety and relevance with powerful and concise poems. In a review of Andrew Marvel's poem, DOVER BEACH (1867), I once noted that Marvel covered many big questions of life - existential questions - in 37 lines. I have a similar laudatory response for what Ernest Hemingway achieved in THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA in less than 120 pages. There are few life concerns (and American pastimes) that are not mentioned, or addressed by Hemingway in this slender but powerful work. A by no means exhaustive list includes: US-Cuba relations, the big fish that got away, alone-ness versus loneliness, boxing and prize-fighting, dangers and draws of the Sea, endurance versus intelligence, man versus nature, the limitless potential of the human spirit, the spiritual gifts within humans, age and wisdom, ingenuity and experience, youth and awareness, respect of peers and ignorance of the rich (tourists), the relevance of baseball to life's challenges, DiMaggio's legacy, lion-hunting and African safari, indigenous respect for the hunted, the Old Man - Santiago's - bond with the marlin, symbolism in dreams.

In terms of the plot of THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA, I shall briefly say something on each of the following elements: Exposition, Complication, Climax and Resolution.

(i) EXPOSITION:
At one level, Hemingway who experienced hunting (safari in Africa), witnessed the running of the bulls in Spain, and lived large in Florida and in France, tells an apparently tall tale of the biggest fish (marlin) ever caught. But in that the Sea is a powerful force and harbors several mysteries, the title must be respected for more than a simple story; a simple story might have been something like "THE OLD MAN AND THE MAGNIFICENT MARLIN". The story is, therefore, also a bonding of man and marlin against the horrible torpedoes of the sea, the persistent and deadly sharks.

This novella follows the plot development sequentially, and the time-line is straightforward, but for two exceptions. First, the novella does not consider the names of the characters important: Santiago's name is mentioned only a few times, and the boy's, Manolin, just once. Secondly, a case may be made for Hemingway hinting at the complication (plot element #2) in his second sentence. I shall quote both of them, because the opener is wonderful and an excellent summary of the exposition:

"He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy had been with him."

Despite rather long first and third sentences in his opening paragraph, the short second sentence may be what critics like about Hemingway's style, and I was impressed by it for the boy becomes as much a hero - and a future hero - in this novella as the Old Man (Santiago) and the "great fish" (that Santiago called his Marlin catch) themselves. The second paragraph paints an almost sorry picture of Santiago, and one wonders whether he will ever rise to his former glory as a great Cuban fisherman: "thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles ...brown blotches of ...skin cancer ...and his hands had the deep creased scars." After mentioning these scars were "as old as erosions in a fishless desert," Hemingway reeled me in with the next (third) paragraph that is full of promise, adventure and determination. "Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated." In these three paragraphs the author has set the scene completely, and I quickly forgot my doubts about Santiago and began to believe he would overcome that worst form of "unlucky" or bad luck - something the boy's parents labeled "salao."

(ii) COMPLICATION:

About thirty pages into this short story of about 120 total pages, Santiago is talking to his potential victims, begging them to take the bait. When the gigantic marlin - which will become clear after it is hooked and then pulls the boat for almost three days - nibbles at the bait and leaves, Santiago calls for God's help. "'He can't have gone,' he said. 'Christ knows he can't have gone. He's making a turn. Maybe he has been hooked before and he remembers....'" By page 36 of the novella, Santiago summarizes the complication of the plot thus, "'I wish I had the boy,' the old man said aloud. 'I'm being towed by a fish and I'm the towing bitt. I could make the line fast. But then he could break it... Thank God he is travelling [sic] and not going down.'" If the great marlin decided to dive down, the Old Man and his boat would have been sucked under water, and one can only guess how deep down! A further complication in the story is the presence of sharks in the water, and the solitary fisherman is not only tired by the antics of his great catch, but he no weapons with which to fight off the sharks and protect his prize catch.

(iii) CLIMAX:

The climax of this Hemingway tale occurs about eighty pages later, when the marlin shows his true size, and its length is greater than that of the skiff! The marlin began circling the boat after three days and he is artistically portrayed as a magnificent fish and "brother." On page 87 (of the 2003 Scribner Edition, copyrighted to Mary Hemingway) Santiago is seeing black spots as the fish may be ready for the killing. Resourceful as he has been, and will be when the sharks attack,

Santiago turns to his Faith again: "'I could not fail myself and die on a fish like this,' he said. 'Now that I have him coming so beautifully, God help me endure. I'll say a hundred Our Fathers and a hundred Hail Marys. But I cannot say them now.'" The Old Man's talking to himself, and to the fish, birds and dolphins has been both informational and entertaining, if not humorous too.

But on page 94, after almost failing to harpoon the marlin, Santiago does so. On the next page he almost sadly looks ahead to the slave labor he has to do to secure the great fish now that, "'I am a tired old man. But I have killed this fish which is my brother....'" In his proudest moment the old man says DiMaggio would have celebrated with him as DiMaggio's father had been a fisherman too.

The case may be made for a second climax which is the fight with the sharks, which after the first successful attack that takes off forty pounds off of his great catch, Santiago loses his harpoon in one shark's body, then breaks his knife that was rigged to an oar as an alternate weapon. Santiago's victory and rest lasted only about an hour. The first shark hit then (page 100). Three pages later, Santiago does not wish to look upon his "mutilated" prize. "When the fish had been hit it was as though he himself were hit" (p.103). Throughout this fishing expedition - or pilgrim's progress - Santiago displayed a truly spiritual approach to his occupation or calling, and a tremendous respect for nature, the sea, and especially the magnificent marlin he defeated then lost to the sharks.

(iv) RESOLUTION:

The resolution of this story occurs after the huge shark attack - "the biggest dentuso that I have ever seen," - and Santiago's regret in having caught the great marlin at all. He know that there will be many shark attacks, and the sentimentality of the story, and of the hero, is in his decision to fight the sharks all the way home. He says during these final ruminations, that a man may be defeated in life, but that never means a man is also destroyed! Was the big shark not more intelligent and successful, scavenger that he is, than the old man and his hard work gone for naught? Would he have been better off "alone in bed on the newspapers" he used for a mattress? He advises himself not to think. "But I must think, he thought. Because it is all I have left. That and baseball. I wonder how the great DiMaggio would have liked the way I hit him [the great shark] in the brain?" (page 104). On the next page regret turns to a sense of guilt and "sin," although he resolves "But then everything is a sin," and he, Santiago, has "no understanding of it...." He also meanders into the realm of agape love, that makes all forgivable. After sunset, Santiago defends the remainder of his fish gallantly, though he knows he can save nothing of his brother-fish for earning money or eating through winter. He fights on even past midnight. The resolution is again identity with the dead fish: together, the fish and Santiago, have killed many sharks. Though he makes it to shore - with only the skeleton of the great marlin for weight - it is enough for the boy, his friends and the townspeople that the Old Man remains the greatest fisherman alive. While the boy helps Santiago with hot tea and other necessities, visitors have no idea what skeleton they are seeing on the beach, while the old man himself dreams in a big sleep demanded by his lions, and his lion spirit.

I like to think of THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA as a kinder, gentler version of the themes and heroes of MOBY DICK. It was a inimitable achievement for an old man, singly and with limited supplies, to bring in a gargantuan marlin (or its impressive skeleton) from a distance of three days from the Cuban shores. The author wrote this story in 1952, and it won Hemingway the Pulitzer Prize in 1953, and may also have contributed to his winning the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. Hemingway showed off his tremendous narrative, linguistic and spiritual repertoire in some 120 pages in this well-loved novella.