Communism Vs. Democracy Essay, Research Paper

“The Old Man and The Sea” Essay

Ernest Hemingway, in The Old Man and The Sea, wrote a book about a man with little wealth and little friends, but this man has a very high goal, which he wants to accomplish even if it means he might die in the process. In this story Ernest Hemingway describes struggles between life and death. Those struggles still exist in life today, and people from all over the world try to face them day in and day out. Struggles and obstacles in life are different for everyone. Some overcome them, some fail, but most at least try and succeed in getting the one thing they really want, their goal in life.

Santiago is the name of that man which Ernest Hemingway describes in the story. Santiago is an old fisherman, who has nothing left except his strength and a boat with a harpoon and fishing wire. The obstacles that Santiago faces are unlike any that most people in this world are facing now. His obstacles are so close to death that it is unimaginable to an ordinary person. Santiago faces them with no ease, but he faces them for no fame or glory. He faces them because of his pride. A person cannot have pride for accomplishing nothing in life. A person has pride when they achieve something so great in their life that you are proud of your own accomplishment, and that something is a persons’ goal. Santiago’s goal is to catch “The Fish” of his life. That fish is his life and he will do anything to accomplish it. A person has to achieve his goal in order to have pride in them selves. Pride means everything and nothing to people. To some it’s a way of life, to some it’s something that matters so little that they would rather skip it and do something else. Those people that really do care about their goals, they are successive in life, because they planned and went ahead with their dreams. Those that through out every single opportunity that they got to even try to succeed on it, or just never bothered to try are probably in a shelter for the poor. Without goals there are no dreams, without dreams there is no hope, and with out hope there is no life.

Ernest Hemingway used very clever ways to compare life and death between one thing. One is a Portuguese-man-o-war. When you see it floating, you see a beautiful sail-like cap filled with air that’s floating on the water. It looks so peaceful and harmless topside, but underneath the beautiful cap are stinging tentacles that will kill anything that they touch. Besides these revealing moments, Santiago also idolizes a baseball player by the name of Joe DiMaggio. Joe DiMaggio was one of the best ball players in history and a lot of people admired him, but Santiago didn’t admire him because he was good at baseball, but because of what problems he had to overcome to play baseball. Joe DiMaggio had a lit of injuries and bone spurs. Some thought that he won’t be able to play, but he did and he was good at it. That’s why Santiago likes him. Despite all the pain and all the injuries, Joe DiMaggio still had enough pride in him to face the public and give it all he got out on the field. That is one of the reasons he became one of the greatest ballplayers in history. A lot of people back then as well as today admire him for that. You are a “man” because of what you can do and not who you are and what you did in the past. It all comes down to Santiago and “The Fish.” Santiago and the fish are pretty much equal in the chances of surviving. “Thank God, they are not as intelligent as we who kill them; although they are more noble and able.” That quote from the book says that even though that we hunt these fish, there is also a chance that the fish can hunt us. They are much stronger then humans but not as smart and if they ever got the idea of fighting back, they would win big time. When Santiago says, “A man can be destroyed but not defeated,” he means that you can take away a mans life, but his pride cannot be taken unless he gives up on his goal. A person can be killed in life but not in spirit. His goals and dreams will always remain unless that person gives up on them himself.

In the end Santiago catches the fish but then regrets that he did, because of the very last obstacle in his way, the sharks. The sharks started to bite chunks off of the fish. Santiago tried to beat them off but in the end he lost the battle and let it be. He has crossed the boundary of his goal. If a person goes too far to accomplish his goal, he might succeed but when he does and looks back at everything that he did, he will start to feel sorry that he even tried. That will only happen if a person persists his goal for so long and so far that he has no other alternative but to keep going, just like Santiago did. For some goals, there is a heavy price to be paid for. That price is either you life or you death, or perhaps the death of a loved one that got in the way. What ever the price is, it’s better to turn back and try again rather then pay a great price for your goal.

Bibliography

“the old man and the sea” by ernest hemmingway

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