Rima Y. Pratama
Prose I
Gindho Rizano, M.HUM
19 November 2011
“The relationship Between the
Symbol and Main Character
In The Old Man and The Sea”.
Ernest Hemingway
(1899-1961) is one of the most famous American novelist, short-story writer and
essayist; he was the winner of the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature. The Old Man and the Sea published in 1952. This novel made its author earned the
Pulitzer Prize in fiction for 1952, and also made him as a winner the Nobel
Prize for literature two years later. The
Old Man and the Sea is a tragic adventure story. Support with his
willingness and his pride calling, the old fisherman, Santiago risk far out in
to Gulf Stream and there he found the biggest marlin that never seen in those
water. Then, he was alone and exhausted by his struggle to harpoon the giant
fish, he is forced into a losing battle with marauding sharks; they leave him
nothing but just the skeleton of his catch. Based on the description above, I
would like to discuss this novel about the “The relationship between the symbol
and main character in The Old Man and The Sea”.
Santiago is an old fisherman; he has not caught a single
fish for eighty four days. At first he works with a young boy, Manolin that has
shared his bad fortune, but after the fortieth unlucky day Manolin’s father
tells him to go from Santiago boat. Since that time, Santiago works alone.
Every morning he rows his skiff out into the Gulf Stream where the marlin is and
he never able to catch the fish, he just comes with empty hand. The marlin becomes the main symbol in this novel.
Marlin is Santiago’s precious opponent. He identifies the marlin as himself.
Marlin is male and he also imagines that the fish is old. The marlin comes to symbolize
Santiago. In other word, Santiago
struggle with the marlin is in fact a struggle with himself. Santiago is not
struggle with the strength but patience, a denial to accept defeat. The process
Santiago’s struggle with the marlin is the process his struggle to face and
defeat his weakness. He struggles very
hard to catch and control the marlin until he can hook the fish. Marlin is a
kind of giant fish that not easy to catch. This species is aggressive fighter who often leapt into the air, as if never tired. They swim fast and strong. Every fisherman is very expected to catch the marlin. This
marlin is great with its fight. They called
the marlin as a beautiful fish. If marlin bait, he jumps to the top surface about 10 to 20
meters. Fishermen can see the" enemy "in front of it. Not all of
fishermen can enjoy this attraction.
But if the marlin hooked, he surfaced. There is a time for the tug. This
is where the fisherman fights how to win the fight. The ship's captain must be
quick as well; to assist in the rope in order did not break.
Hemingway describes Santiago’s image appearance and the
eyes, expressing an old man external appearance of old with inside of strength.
We can see, “The old man was thin and
gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck. The brown blotches of the
benevolent skin cancer the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea
were on his cheeks. The blotches ran well down the sides of his face and his
hands had the deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish on the cords. But
none of these scars were fresh. They were as old as erosions in a fishless
desert. Everything about him was old
except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and
undefeated.”(Hemingway, 2009). These two kinds of strengths express
Santiago is a challenges and courage character. In addition, failure and bad
luck are eternal in other people's eyes, but to the old man has means nothing.
He still believes he will also have good luck.
When Hemingway created the character of the old man, he
didn’t choose the young man with strong physical power. But, he just chose an
old poorly man, in perform. This choice incomplete the physical power of the
struggler. The author had his own certain purpose. The old man should have
reserved from the life struggle. But in the novel, the author trusted a great
challenge to him and strong courage. The choice made the works wider and more thoughtful
symbolic meaning. Man is unimportant in the large universal. They are marked in
physical power; they can be the stronger in mentality. Not all of man has a
strong body, but the can build that. Santiago
does not have strong physical power like young man. He is unlucky. He is a
failed hero in the struggle between Man and sea. He gets nothing in the
successful 84 days, also he is lonely. He risks his life in the sea without any
help. Exactly, because of these basic descriptions, the novel shows the special
courage of Santiago. If a person can’t expect any help, and then he has to
depends on himself. He overcomes the dangerous condition with using his courage.
The courage of the old man shows the fearless heroism. It also keeps the old
man’s optimistic spirit long, which can strengthen the intensity of strength of
will. In the end, Santiago dreams young lions of African beach. He only dreamed
of places now and of the lion on the beach” (Hemingway, 2009). He is old now
and his youth and strength is left behind him. All above shows dream gives his courage.
In reading The Old Man and the Sea, we get worthy moral experience through the
sight of the man’s inner world. This kind of experience strengthens the
character’s image and also enriches it. The good and kind personality of the
old man had knocked many hearts. The author melts the kind character into his
soul. And as a result, his kind character makes the image have more spirit personality.
In the nature, he treats the foe as his brother even he wants to feed it by
himself. He shows sympathy to the little swallow, even when he is fighting
against shark and the marlin. Although he suffers the awful fate, he is still non-stopping
to struggle. Ernest Hemingway also try to tell us, in this life when people
want something, they often just to look for the final result and get it
instantly, sometime, they don’t care about how the process to get it. As we read
the novel, we know that Santiago keeps on fighting because he has a belief that
a man is not made for defeat, a man can be destroyed but not defeated. The old
man wins very hard in this struggle with fish, though the result is he lost it.
We shouldn’t see just the final result, but see how Santiago’s struggle to
catch the fish.
In conclusion, we can get worthy
moral experience in this novel. This novel teaches us many things about life.
The one think that I have learned in this novel is never stop to struggle for
our life. And this is also we can learn from the main character from this
novel, Santiago. Although he is an old man, weak, and work alone but he never
stop struggle and he is a brave one.
References:
Hemingway, Ernest
(2009). Lelaki Tua dan Laut
(The Old Man and The Sea) .Serambi
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