The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway is a short novel published in 1952. This story is one of the most famous literary masterpieces of the twentieth century, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and then being a large contributor to Hemingway winning the Nobel Prize in 1954.
The aging fisherman, Santiago, has gone over eighty days without catching a single fish, and is seen as unlucky by his neighbors and other fisherman around the area. Because of this string of horrible luck, Santiago’s young assistant, Manolin, is denied from helping any longer as his parents think he needs to find a luckier boat. Santiago and Manolin’s relationship is still strong, however, and Manolin helps prepare for the next trip.
The next day, Santiago goes out into the ocean in his small boat to try once again to prove against the odds that he has not lost his talents, and by midday, a marlin finally lands on his hook after all of this time. However, the strength of the mighty fish makes it hard for Old Santiago to pull it in, but his wise nature knows that ocean fishing is a long term battle.
For over two days straight, Santiago holds the line tight with every muscle in his body, weakening him slowly, but he knows that as the marlin pulls him out farther away from land, it too grows weaker. There is a respect that Santiago has for this fish. He sees them as two equal warriors and only one will win this battle.
On the third day, the marlin loses its strength and Santiago pulls it in for the kill. He has finally done it, his bad luck is gone and he can bring the prize home to feed all those in the area, except that the size of the fish makes it impossible for it to come aboard. Setting sail back toward land with the fish tied to the side of the boat, Santiago soon realizes that the fish is going to attract more mouths than just humans.
The long journey back home allows for sharks to take their time biting off chunks of the marlin and even though Santiago manages to kill off several of them, the bloodied carcass continues to draw more predators. Realizing the fish is no more than bones after a while, Santiago feels his luck drained once again.
On arriving to shore empty-handed and exhausted, Santiago struggles back to his home and falls into a deep sleep after his long labors. Manolin comes to him in the morning and cries, feeling bad for everything that has happened, but Santiago promises that they will fish again. The towns-people see the enormous skeleton of the marlin on the beach and are both amazed and sorrowful.
For my own thoughts on this novella, I honestly thought it was very boring and to this day, I do not understand all of the praise it gets. I do understand that it shows the value of hard work, life not being fair, and staying positive in times of hardship, but these lessons do not feel as significant to me as more existential themes. I found it quite tiresome during the middle where Santiago has to basically talk to himself and the ocean the whole time while fishing; I think having Manolin come along for extra help would have made the dialogue and interactions a lot more engaging.
One of my other big gripes too is how at the end of the day, Santiago still did not win. I am all for non-happy endings, but this one really felt like a let down to me. Not only did Santiago lose the fish, but he lost it in a torturous way as his body was exhausted to its limits and he had to watch the sharks slowly steal all of his hard work. Hemingway is known for his use of symbols and the marlin and sharks definitely represent something important, but that message was never able to resonate with me during the read. It did not seem to me that Santiago learned anything that he already didn’t know.
This was the fifth book I read to begin my art journey, and even though I did not particularly like it, I do not regret reading it. Though mostly boring to me, I still respect the importance of this book within literary history, and I hope to read more Hemingway in the future to change my mind about his writing.
Rating: 3/10