This origin, with its attendant national and cultural differences, makes Santiago an outsider in the Cuban fishing village of Cojímar and is a principal motivation in his actions. As the author explains in a letter to Lillian Ross,“The Old Man was born a catholic in the island of Lanza Rota in the Canary Islands” (SL 807). In The Old Man and the Sea (1952), Hemingway employs the perspective of a Spaniard in Cuba to broaden the scope of the narrative.
In several of ernest hemingway’s novels, the main character’s expatriation is a principal rhetorical device and a theme which critics often neglect. Key words: Alienation, isolation, nature, death, destruction In this novel Hemingway further explored the themes of man meeting challenges and struggling alone, showing extreme determination and courage in face of the defeats, and living with “grace under pressure”. They have to struggle hard and bear pains that display their courage, bravery and the power of endurance. Hemingway always puts his heroes in difficult and dangerous situations where they have to face death and destruction. This isolation defines who he is, and emphasizes the unique nature of his character. In The Old Man and the Sea “The old man is a character isolated from people – and in fact from the world of humans entirely – in his time on the sea. The term alienation has been used over the ages with varied and sometimes contradictory meanings. The causes of alienation are enumerated by extracting the influencing factors like anxiety, despair, loneliness etc. The passion of his life was to write absolutely truly with no faking or cheating of any kind. Proud in defeat, Santiago furls his sail and staggers to his shack, to be found by the boy and other fishermen, who marvel at his catch, while the spent man sleeps and dreams of past experiences.Abstract Ernest Miller Hemingway is acknowledged as the most significant writer of the 20th century American literature.
When he makes land his marlin is but a skeleton. As he sails slowly to port sharks attack his catch and he fights them as best he can with a knife lashed to the tiller gripped in raw hands. Aged and solitary, he goes far out and hooks a great fish that tows his boat all afternoon and night and into the next day as he pits his skill and waning strength against it the way he once did as a wrestler called “El Campéon.” As the second night turns to dawn he finally harpoons his catch, lashes it to his small boat, and makes his weary way home. At first accompanied by the boy Manolin, with whom he talked of better days and about the great sport of baseball, he is now alone. This parable of man's struggle with the natural world, of his noble courage and endurance, tells of the Cuban fisherman Santiago, who for 84 luckless days has rowed his skiff into the Gulf Stream in quest of marlin. Novelette by Hemingway, published in 1952.
0 kommentar(er)
