Earnest Hemming's The Old Man And The Sea

The Old Man and the Sea
Earnest Hemming’s work The Old Man and the Sea is a true comprehensive coverage of the never-dying spirit a human being should have. Through Santiago, the old man and the major character in the work, Hemming greatly captures and presents to the reader the concept of never giving up in what one believes in, even if old age comes knocking. One major character or trait of Santiago that Hemming uses to convey his major theme of the work as it relates to life is the braveness that Santiago portrays through the entire plot of the Hemming’s work. The old man is not discouraged to go out and try his luck even after eighty-four days of no success in catching a fish. His age is not a challenge to him and this he proves by going

Many things in Santiago’s life, as the author puts it, are a fiction. He has no food, no lighting, no proper clothing and other basics for life like washing towels and shoes. At one point Manolin, the young boy he is staying with, blames himself for not having brought the old man some of these basics. “There were no cast nets and the boy remembered when they sold it. But they did go through this fiction every day (Hemming 15).” By this fictional kind of life the reader gets to understand the many challenges that the old faced in his life. Surprisingly, none of this sort of lacking is a problem to Santiago. He had even gotten used to going without lunch the whole

He spends two days fighting with the marlin, an extremely dangerous venture to undertake given his age and also that he did not have food for lunch with him. To show the courage that he has, Santiago thinks to himself many things while in fight with the fish. Ultimately, he consoles himself that no matter what the marlin might choose to do to get away from him; he will not lack something to do. He optimistically thinks that “There are plenty of things I can do (Hemming 44).” For this reason, it does not come out as a surprise to the reader when finally the old man wins the battle between him and the fish after two days. Even though Santiago loses the marlin to scavengers on his way home, the reader can only sympathize with him at this point and acknowledge that under his circumstances at this point the old man had little if anything he could do to defeat the scavengers. He has gone two days without food and seriously engaged in a battle with the fish and, for this reason; it makes sense when he cannot withstand the scavengers when they come for his