To Evaluate my Presentation
click here
Introduction:-
click here
Name : Mori Utsavi bharatbhai
Roll no :
33
Enrollment no : 2069108420180037
M.A. Sem - 3
Year : - 2017 - 2019
Email- id - utsavibarajput18@gmail.com
Paper no :
10
Submitted to : Department of English Bhavnagar
Topic : Theme of the old man and sea.
The plot of “The old man and the
sea” is apparently simple but actually intricately designed. Most Critics agree
that the theme of this book is man’s capacity to withstand and transcend
hardship of time and circumstance. The idea is conveyed through Santiago’s
adventures with the Marlin and with the sharks. Hemingway depicts in
circumstantial detail elemental tests of endurance to which Santiago is
subjected. His courageous response is summoning both physical energy and
imaginative vision to counter the forces testing him. The major themes of “The
old man and the sea” are as under.
The
undefeated:-
Santiago
focuses on this unity and sees himself as part of nature than as an external
antagonist competing with it. He cannot be defeated by whatever misfortunes be
full him. “The old man and the sea” has almost the same theme as “the
undefeated” the story is written twenty-five years before. The old fisherman
who has not made a catch for eighty-four days is in the same human situation as
the ageing bull-fighter of that story. This novella does give a new definition
and meaning to Hemmingway’s work as a whole. It gives the reader a keener
awareness of the fact that Hemmingway regards moral stamina as the most
important value in life.
Love:-
Santiago comes to feel his
deepest love for the creature that he himself hunts and kills. He feels the
urge to conquer this great fish not only for the sake of his physical need but
even more for his prude and his profession. The great marlin is unlike the
other fish which the old man catches. The marlin is a spiritual more than a
physical necessity. The marlin is too, a worthy antagonist for the old man.
During his severe test Santiago comes to pity and then to respect and to love
the marlin. In the end he feels that there can be no victory for either in the
equal struggle between them. The conditions which brought them together have
made them one. And though he kills the great fish the old man has come to love
it as his equal and his brother. This theme provides the structural framework
within which the old man’s Heroic individualism and his love for his fellow
creatures appear and function and which gives them their ultimate significance.
Feeling of
guilt:-
Throughout the story Santiago is given heroic
proportions. He fights the great fish with epic skill and experience. “A man
can be destroyed, but not defeated”, he says in the course of his fight with
the sharks. But beyond Santiago’s heroic individualism and beyond the love and
brotherliness which he comes to feel for the marlin. There is a further
dimension to the old man’s experience. In killing the great marlin and in
losing it to the sharks, the old man realizes the sin into which men full in
going far out beyond their depth or beyond their true place in life. In the
first night of his struggle with the marlin, the old man begins to feel
loneliness and a sense almost of guilt for the way in which he has caught it.
After killing the marlin he feels no pride of accomplishment, no sense of
victory.
Solidarity
and interdependence:-
Human
solidarity and interdependence thus constitute a dominant theme of this novel.
The theme, it is to be noted is reinforced by the use of a few symbols of whom
the most important are baseball and the lions. The baseball champion, DiMaggio,
is a constant source of inspiration to the old man. The thought of the African
lions is, likewise, a source of strength to him. Another symbol reinforcing the
theme is that of the crucifixion. There is the image of the crucifixion. Which
is prominently employed towards the close of the story, links Santiago with
Christ? All these symbols imply solidarity and interdependence not isolation or
alienation.
Heroism:-
Victory over crushing adversity is the heart
of heroism. With the concern of Santiago the fisherman to be a heroic emblem
for humankind, his tribulations must be mominent. Victory though is never
final, as Santiago’s successful slaying of the marlin shows. There would be no
reason to include the final 30 pays of the book. Hemingway vision of heroism is
Sisyphean, requiring continuous labor for quintessentially ephemeral ends. What
the hero does is to face adversity with dignity and grace, hence Heming way’s
Neozoic emphasis on self-control and the other facets of his idea of manhood.
What we achieve or fail at externally is not as significant to heroism as the
comporting ourselves with inner nobility. As Santiago says, “Man is not made
for defeat a man can be destroyed but not defeated”.
Manhood:-
Heming way’s ideal of manhood is nearly in
separable from the ideal of heroism discussed above. To be a man is to behave
with honor and dignity and to be a man is to suffering, to accept one’s duty
without complaint, and most importantly to display a maximum of self-control.
The representation of femininity, the sea is characterized expressly by its
caprice and lack of self-control. If she did wild or wicked things it was because
she could not help them. The representation of masculinity, the marlin is
described as great, beautiful, calm, and noble. Santiago steels him against his
pain by talling himself.
“Suffer
like a man, or a fish.”
In
Hemingway’s ethical universe, Santiago shows us not only how to live life
heroically but in a way befitting a man.
His
Christian virtues:-
There is
something of the Christian saint about Santiago. He has achieved the most
difficult and saintly of all Christian virtues, that is humility. It is
humility so absolute that is involves” no loss of true pride.” There is even in
him a suggestion of Saint Francis, in his attitude to animal life, and
especially to birds. Moreover at various moments in the story Santiago affirms
the major Christian virtues like faith, hope and charity. In the very first
dialogue between Santiago and the boy marlin we learn that the boy’s father has
not much, faith, Santiago and mandolin have it:
“He hasn’t
much faith.”
“No,” the
old man said. “But we have. Haven’t we?”
“Yes”, the
boy said.
Towards the
close of the novel, the old man tells himself:
“It is
silly not to hope. Besides it is a sin.”
As for
charity we see it clearly in his generous love of men and animals.
Pride:-
Hemingway’s treatment of pride in a novella is
ambivalent. A heroic man like Santiago should have pride in his actions, and as
Santiago shows us.” Humility was not disgraceful and it carried no loss of true
pride.” It is apparently Santiago’s pride which presses him to travel
dangerously far out into the sea,” beyond all people in the world,” to catch
the marlin. While he loved the marlin and called him brother, Santiago admits
to killing it for pride, his blood stirred by battle with such a noble and
worthy antagonist. Some have interpreted the loss of the marlin as the price
Santiago had to pay for his pride in travelling out so far in search of such a
catch. Contrarily, one could argue that this pride was beneficial as it allowed
Santiago an edifying challenge worthy of his heroism. In the end, Hemingway
suggests that pride in a job well done, even if pride drew one unnecessarily
into the situation, is a positive trait.
Success:-
The novel
is indeed remarkable for its stress on what man can “do” and on the world as an
arena where heroic deeds are possible. In this universe everyone has a role to
play and Santiago’s role is to pursue the great marlin: “that which I was born
for”, he reflects. To be a hero means to dare more than other man. To be a hero
means to expose oneself to greater dangers and therefore more greatly to risk
the possibilities of defeat and depth. Santiago fulfils this test of heroism
about such a man it would be absurd to say that things are done to him and that
he does little. On the eighty-fifth day Santiago rows far beyond the customary
fishing area. That is itself doing something big. Because he goes out too far
in the sea, he catches the great fish. The fish is so powerful it pulls his
skiff even farther out so far that he cannot get back in time to prevent the
marlin being eaten up by the sharks. The greatness of the experience and the
inevitable nature provides human beings with unlimited opportunities for the
great experience. The experience carries with it a heavy tragic price.
Santiago’s achievement creates a sensation among the fishermen in his village.
The tourists of the story mistake the marlin for a shark but they too are
struck by a sense of the extraordinary.
Conclusion:-
There are many themes in this novella but the
main theme is heroism. We can see some heroic deeds which are done by the
character Santiago.
No comments:
Post a Comment