Old Man and the Sea- Universal Themes

In this novel, I think the theme that stands out most to me is distress. I think that the author uses distress to show readers just how much pain some people go through. In this book, the old man goes through so much pain and suffering, and I think the author does a great job describing both vividly. The old man suffers physically in many ways, dealing with exhaustion, hunger, and many cuts and cramps. When I read that at the end of his trip, the old man's hands looked like raw meat it made me realize just how bad the cuts in his hands actually were. This also made me realize the pain he must have went through having that many cuts on his hands and then continuing to pull the line and reel in this fish. The old man also goes through mental distress because he was out in the heat of the sun for three days with very little water, and he resorts to talking to himself. On top of all this, the old man has little food to live off of, so he endures through hunger for three days. Another theme that stuck out to me was determination. The old man shows more determination in this book than any other character has in any other book I have ever read. The old man has his mind set on catching this fish, and he is willing to die to do so. At one point the old man even says "a man can be destroyed, but not defeated." I think the old man is so determined to catch this fish because he is tired of being mocked and laughed at by the other fishermen, and he believes that if he returns with a fish this size he will finally regain their respect. The author shows both the old man and the fish to have a great determination to survive, and that is why the struggle between them goes on for three days.

Bibliography

Hemmingway, Ernest. Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner. 1996. Print.