Bredelman's Blog

An Epiphany: The Theme Behind “The Old Man and the Sea” | January 21, 2012

This morning, had an epiphany about one of my favorite books, “The Old Man and the Sea”, by Ernest Hemingway. I have read this book five times, and every time, I find something new about it. This time, I was not reading it when I found a possible hidden theme.

After browsing the web for different themes, I failed to find the one that I just found. It is easy to find the Christianity theme of the book. It is practically the only theme any one ever mentions. Sure, I can see it, but let me think on my own. What about love, though? Hemingway is known to have that theme in a lot of his other books, such as “The Sun Also Rises”. That is the theme I happened to stumble upon in my simple mind.

Santiago, the old man, has lived his whole life, poor and alone. All he has is fishing, and the little boy. In the beginning of the story, he is having a hard time catching anything, a stroke of bad luck. He dreams of when he worked on large cargo ships, traveling to distance shores, and seeing lions on a beach in Africa. The little boys family does not want the boy fishing with the old man because he is “bad luck”. One day, the old man decides to venture out further than normal, further than the other fishermen with their powered boats and new technology. He catches a very large marlin, which over powers him and takes him out to sea. He catches a dolphin along the way, and some other small fish, in order to eat. If you have not read the book, and do not want me to spoil the ending, I would stop reading here, and just skip to the next paragraph of my post. He ends up reeling in the marlin, after it gets tired of pulling the small boat for miles. The fish is too large to put in the boat, so Santiago ties the marlin to the side of his boat. After numerous sharks attack the fish, and after fighting for as long as he can, he has nothing left of the fish except for the skeleton. Even after he has lost everything in pursuit of this prize fish, he still takes the remnants all the way back to his shoreline town on the island of Cuba.

The reason I have loved the book for so long is because Santiago’s struggle. Even though his struggle is so tough, and he loses everything, he still goes on, showing that our lives go on, no matter what we go through. However, that is no longer my stance on the theme of the book. The story of Santiago and the marlin is one of finding, pursuing, and losing love. Santiago is just an old man. Poor, lonely, the average man of this Cuban fishing community. He dreams of a love of the past, once had, but then lost. He wants to go back there, but he no longer can. He has not caught a fish for a long time, which signifies not being in a relationship for a while. He realizes that in order to start one, he has to break down barriers, to venture out further than normal, which in our lives can represent picking up a new hobby, talking to that girl behind the register, or texting that cute girl who sent you a message over Facebook a couple of days ago. When he does that, he catches the marlin, a large, beautiful fish, which overpowers him. He managed to catch a fish thought to be out of his league, and fell in love very quickly. He was ill prepared, with no food and just a bottle of water. The fish takes him on an adventure, and he helplessly pursues it. When he catches the flying fish and the dolphin, it represents the other short-lived relationships one might get into while still pursuing that one.

Again, if you have not read the book, and do not want the ending to be spoiled, skip this paragraph. After fighting for so long, and not giving up on catching this prize marlin, he has tired it enough to reel it in, a representation on the girl accepting you just because you follow her around like a sick puppy. The marlin is too big to fit in the small boat, so he ties it the side, as if he was not able to provide for a love. Then, the fish is attacked by sharks, like other people trying to steal her from him. He fights them off, they keep coming, and he keeps fighting, until they make off with her. He has nothing left of her except for the skeleton, the memory of losing her. He gets back to his town, in the same situation he left, poor and alone. The other fishermen speak softly about this skeleton tied to his boat, gossip of a great fish lost to “la mar”.

Others may say, “There are plenty of fish in the sea,” but it is just not that easy. You take risks to find love, and you fight for it and to keep it, until everything gets the better of you, and you lose it.

Don’t lose your fish
Bredelman, OUT

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