Sea

Some Days You Hector the Fish, and Some Days the Fish Hectors You
May 27, 2010
The last book (otes !rom "nder#round$ may %ell ha&e dealt %ith the anti'
hero, but this one must surely #i&e us a (ure hero) Hemin#%ay*s last no&el,
The +ld Man and the Sea (1,-2$, #i&es us the ideal that Hemin#%ay
stru##led to e.(ress throu#hout his %hole li!e, com(ressed into a sin#le 1/1'
(a#e story) 0n the early no&el o! the so'called lost #eneration, The Sun 1lso
2ises, Hemin#%ay seeks to understand the nature o! masculinity and
coura#e) 0 take this 3nal no&el to ans%er the 4uestion raised by the 3rst one)
"nlike Sun, or any o! his other no&els, The +ld Man and the Sea takes (lace in
a &ery narro% uni&erse''one containin#, !or all (ractical (ur(oses, no %omen,
no %ars, no alcohol, no modern ci&ili5ation, no distractions) +ne could e&en
ar#ue that dan#er doesn*t (lay that much o! a role, either) The main (layers
consist o! one old man, one bi# 3sh, and (ain)
Santia#o, an old 6uban 3sherman, has had a run o! bad luck) For ei#hty'!our
days, he has cau#ht nothin#) Soon, he !ears, he %ill beat his o%n record o!
ei#hty'se&en days) His youn# a((rentice, Manolin, has had to take u( %ith a
more success!ul boat''not because he %anted to abandon the old man, but
because Manolin*s (arents insisted) Santia#o decides to 3#ht his bad luck
and head out !arther than usual, into dee( %aters in his little ski7) Soon he
hooks a &ery lar#e marlin, but cannot brin# him in) 0nstead, the 3sh to%s the
boat out e&en !urther) 1 three'day'lon# e(ic stru##le o! endurance ensues,
as the 3sh stru##les to !ree itsel! and the old man han#s on to the line) He
has no 3shin# rod8 he holds the line in his hands) 0! he tied it to the boat, a
sudden lun#e %ould sna( the line) 9&entually, the 3sh tires, he (ulls it close
enou#h to the boat to kill it, and he sails back to 6uba) :ut he can*t (ut a 3sh
o! that si5e into his boat, so he lashes it to the side and to%s it %ith him) The
trail o! blood soon attracts sharks, and by the time he reaches the shore,
hardly anythin# remains o! the #reat catch but a skeleton)
The notion o! coura#e e.(ressed here does not ha&e to do %ith !acin#
dan#er, althou#h Santia#o does !ace real dan#ers like star&ation or e.(osure)
Those thin#s don*t e&en %arrant a mention) o, the (roo! o! Santia#o*s
coura#e lies in his combination o! %iry stren#th, toleration o! (ain, and
unbreakable endurance) 9&ery time the 3sh runs or di&es, the line cuts his
hands dee(ly) He can*t e&er let u( on the (ressure, and hence he can*t a7ord
to slee() 0n a ;ashback, he recalls an arm'%restlin# match he %on as a
youn# man a#ainst the stron#est man on the docks) The match had lasted
%ithout break !or t%enty'!our hours %hile the audience and bookies came
and %ent in shi!ts) 0n much the same %ay, as an old man, <9l 6am(e=n< tires
out this most noble o((onent)
So %e ha&e the heroic battle o! man a#ainst marlin, %ith no %itnesses) Then,
he loses the ne.t battle a#ainst the sharks) :ut sharks ha&e no nobility)
They merely sca&en#e the s(oils o! &ictory !rom someone else) Santia#o
3#hts them o7, killin# some and dri&in# o7 others, but they >ust kee( comin#
until nothin# remains) Some readers ha&e su##ested a (arallel bet%een the
sharks and the (arasitical acti&ities o! literary critics, %ho na# and tear at
#reat %riters until nothin# remains''not to mention any names, o! course)
:y the %ay, this book challen#es the reader %ith its o%n minor endurance
contest) 1s short as it is, it has no cha(ters or breaks o! any sort) The short
scenes at the be#innin# and the end blend seamlessly into the lon# 3shin#
tri( and each day on the boat blends into the ne.t, as Santia#o ne&er slee(s)
So, to read it, one !eels com(elled to 3nish the %hole thin# in one sittin#''
re4uirin# a le&el o! tenacity (or stubbornness$ that most readers could not
muster)
Santia#o*s %orld contains no %omen at all) 0n !act, it contains (recious !e%
(eo(le at all) 1t the be#innin#, the narrator mentions Santia#o*s %i!e? <+nce
there had been a tinted (hoto#ra(h o! his %i!e on the %all but he had taken it
do%n because it made him too lonely to see it and it %as on the shel! in the
corner under his clean shirt)< (() 1@'17$ 0n the secondary literature, Santia#o
#ets com(ared o!ten to 6hrist, and the book contains se&eral ob&ious
symbolic 6hristian re!erences) His lacerated hands remind us o! sti#mata,
his stru##le u( the beach %ith the boat*s mast reminds us o! 6hrist*s %alk to
Aol#otha, and %hen he colla(ses in bed, <he sle(t !ace do%n on the
ne%s(a(ers %ith his arms out strai#ht and the (alms o! his hands u()< :ut 0
see him, not so much as a 6hristlike martyr as a Areek hero) 6onsider this
(assa#e !rom the 0liad) 1chilles s(eaks)
For my mother Thetis the #oddess o! the sil&er !eet tells me
0 carry t%o sorts o! destiny to%ard the day o! my death) 9ither,
i! 0 stay here and 3#ht beside the city o! the Tro>ans,
my return home is #one, but my #lory shall be e&erlastin#8
but i! 0 return home to the belo&ed land o! my !athers,
the e.cellence o! my #lory is #one, but there %ill be a lon# li!e
le!t !or me, and my end in death %ill not come to me 4uickly)
1nd this %ould be my counsel to others also, to sail back
home a#ain, since no lon#er shall you 3nd any term set
on the sheer city o! 0lion, since Beus o! the %ide bro%s has stron#ly
held his o%n hand o&er it, and its (eo(le are made bold)
''0liad, :ook 0C, lines D10'D20
0ndeed, Santia#o must make this &ery choice) He could ha&e acce(ted his
strin# o! bad luck and continued 3shin# in sa!e and, !or him, un(roducti&e
%aters) 0nstead, he chooses to &enture out %here no one else dares 3sh)
1nd once he has hooked his #reatest ad&ersary, he could cut the line and
#i&e u( the 3#ht at any time) 0nstead, he chooses to stru##le a#ainst
ho(eless odds, not out o! #reed, but because he has met a %orthy o((onent
in an heroic encounter) So, althou#h Hemin#%ay may ha&e included se&eral
6hristian si#n(osts at the end o! the story, it seems to me that the bulk o! the
story takes (lace !ar !rom society, ci&ili5ation, and all that those thin#s entail)
0n the middle o! the sea (not the %ine'dark sea, true, but the o(al'blue #ul!$,
Santia#o stands u( to an indomitable, #od'blessed !oe? an ei#hteen'!oot lon#
marlin that can dra# him %illy'nilly all o&er creation !or days on end) Eike
1chilles* stru##le a#ainst Hector, the old man*s battle %ith the 3sh became
an e(ic encounter8 but the a!termath, too, had Homeric o&ertones)
Santia#o*s dra##in# the 3sh back to shore reminded me o! 1chilles dra##in#
Hector*s body, and his subse4uent remorse) The +ld Man and the Sea, like
the 0liad, did not end %ith the heroic slayin# o! the !oe) Santia#o had a dead
3sh to deal %ith, a noble 3sh %orthy o! a much better end than chum !or
sharks (as Hector deser&ed a better end than !ood !or the do#s$) :ut the
denouement had also elements o! Areek tra#edy, since no one could dra# a
bleedin# cor(se throu#h the #ul! %ithout attractin# a ;eet o! %atery 9rinyes)
The #radual tearin# a(art o! the #rand 3sh had a Areek ine&itability about it''
!rom the mid(oint o! a tra#edy %e ne&er ha&e any doubt o! ho% it %ill end)
The resemblance to Areek e(ics and tra#edies ends %hen Santia#o ste(s out
o! the boat)
:ack on land, Santia#o*s #lory endures, not in le#end so much as in the
lessons learned by his disci(le, Manolin) +ne other small biblical re!erence,
maybe, occurs at the &ery end, %hen Manolin declares that they %ill no% 3sh
to#ether) Santia#o asks %hat his (arents %ill say, and Manolin declares, <0
don*t care)< 0nterestin#ly, Manolin*s name comes !rom <mano,< the S(anish
%ord !or <hand,< %hich makes (er!ect sense, but the Ha%aiian %ord, <mano,<
means <shark)< 0n some %ays, not only critics, but also disci(les act like
sharks, %orryin# at the master*s messa#e until hardly anythin# remains)
1ll in all, 0 en>oyed this little (arable #reatly) 0ts sim(licity, nobility, and
almost serene >oy o&er the seemin#ly (ointless stru##le that constitutes
human li!e e.(resses !eelin#s that resonate %ith me) o one %ill #et out o!
this mess ali&e) Fhat matters is the re&erence, the (ride, and the di#nity
%ith %hich %e ac4uit oursel&es)