The Old Man And The
Sea
Brief Analysis By : •
•
Abeer Ibraheem El Farra 220091658 •
Nisreen Mohammad Ismail 220090967 •
To: Dr.Ayman Al Hallaq •
The Story In Lines ….
The Old Man and the Sea is a novel written by the American

author Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Cuba,
It was published in 1952. It was the last major work of fiction to 
be produced by Hemingway and published in his lifetime.
One of his most famous works, it centers upon Santiago, an 
aging fisherman who struggles with a giant marlin far out in
the Gulf Stream.
The Old Man and the Sea was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for 
Fiction in 1953 and was cited by the Nobel Committee as
contributing to the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature to
Hemingway in 1954.
Main Characters:
Santiago:
Marlin :
Manolin :
He is the hero of this short novel . He is an
old fisherman of about 80 years. He has no
wife or children . He has a long fighting with
the giant Marlin .He is the most unlucky
fisherman , but the best for Manolin.
The large-size sea fish with extreme power .
It’s considered the hero with Santiago .It took
him long time to catch .
The young boy with about 14 years. He is
like a son to Santiago . He admires Santiago
for he has learnt from him every thing about
the art of fishing. He joined other ships after
the misfortune of Santiago.
After 40 days
Manolin stopped
working with the
old man.
The trip started
and last for 5
days.
The 85th day
seems to be
different.
He shifted to
work with Sb
more
successful.
84 days passed
but Santiago
fished nothing.
The five
days
Santiago
faced many
typeswitnessed
of
sharks
that struggle:
ended with the
tough
loss of all the meat of his
Marlin and ends with nothing.
a
Individualism
Santiago is a champion of individualism because he braves all 
dangers by himself and remains un frightened till the end. 
The “code hero” is typically an individualist and free-willed. 
Although he believes in the ideals of courage and honor he has
his own set of morals and principles based on his beliefs in
honor, courage and endurance.
A code hero never shows emotions; showing emotions and 
having a commitment to women shows weakness. Burhans
says, “Santiago represents a noble and tragic individualism
revealing what man can do in an indifferent universe which
defeats him, and the love he can feel for such a universe and
his humility before it” (447).
In Santiago case, he never breakdown to kill 
the sharks, the creature that he has to defeat, in
order to keep his “heroic individualism
 The old man finally realizes his true solidarity
and interdependence with the rest of mankind,
Burhans says, when he gets back to shore, and
finds that it is
 “pleasant to have
 someone to talk to instead of speaking only to
himself and to the sea
Religion

The author chose to not only use the various 
animals as symbols, but seemed to compare Santiago to
Christ.Santiago had cramps in his hands from holding
the fishing line all night while he and the boat were
being pulled by the strong fish.Hemingway wrote that
the sounds Santiago made while having the cramps
were the same as the reaction "someone would have
while having a nail passed through their hand and into
wood."This was the same experience Christ had while
being crucified.Hemingway included this reference
purposefully so the reader would be able to compare
and understand the similarity.
After his voyage was completed Santiago was 
exhausted and weak. While bringing in the mast
from his boat he stumbled three times under the
weight resting upon his shoulders. This resembled
Christ's walk carrying his heavy cross to the hill
where he was crucified. Also when Santiago was
back in his shack he fell asleep on his bed with his
arms outstretched resembling Jesus on the cross. At
this point Manolin awoke Santiago and Santiago
realized he had completed his last challenge and
that his time as a fisherman was up. He passed on
the sword from the great fish to Manolin for
continuation of the skills he had taught his
apprentice. Manolin was comparable to a disciple
left in charge of continuing the work the Master had
started.
Symbols
2- life is an endless struggle 
Survival in this context doesn’t mean merely
physical survival , but it has broader
implications: It means to survive with
dignity and self-respect.
Santiago kills the fish not merely for 
keeping him alive , but for pride and selfrespect. The fish is a symbol of what man
can achieve and therefore without his
achievements his life would have been
meaningless.

Joe DiMaggio

Joe DiMaggio represents many things to the old man. Santiago
sees DiMaggio as an equal. One whose father was a poor
fisherman just like he is. When he was out fishing he thought
to himself, would the great DiMaggio ever stay this long as he
did and quickly replied to himself that DiMaggio is young and
strong and that his father was a fisherman so of course he
would stay.
This made him feel better because now he could compare 
himself to his hero. Santiago thought that DiMaggio would
understand him because of their background being the
same. He wanted someone like the boy that would listen to him
but understood him more and he believes DiMaggio could be
that person. Joe DiMaggio also represents hope that the old
man has for Manolin. He wishes that the boy will grow up and
be like the great DiMaggio so that he will not be a poor fisher
like he is.
 4- Manolin:
 The boy is a powerful symbol of youth ;
Santiago thinks of him to get the inspiration
from his thoughts and extra energy and
confidence in his heroic fight against the
Marlin and the sharks.
 The old man is childish in his illusions and the
boy is wise far beyond years to shatter these
illusions.
. Manolin symbolized the disciples of Jesus. The
ones who would follow him to his death and then
go out and preach his ways. He believes in the old
man and takes charge and tells all the other
fisherman to stay away from Santiago after his
return. He would take care of the old man when he
said to him "Keep warm old man. Remember we are
in September." Manolin only wanted good things
for Santiago, he did not want anyone to hurt him or
put him down for his accomplishments. He wants
to learn from the old man and to listen to what he
had to say about him as a young man or of Joe
DiMaggio.

3-Many meanings of Sharks:
 1- They symbolize evil that
permeates the world and exists
 for its own sake.
 2- The one who enjoys others
suffering and stop their success.
Significant quotation
“You did not kill the fish only to keep alive and to sell for food, he
thought. You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman.
You loved him when he was alive and you loved him after. If you love
him, it is not a sin to kill him. Or is it more?”


He attempts to explain to himself his reasons for killing the fish, and
admits that his desire to hunt the fish stemmed from the very same
quality that led to its eventual destruction: his pride. He then
justifies his behavior by claiming that his slaying of the marlin was
necessitated by his love and respect for it. Indeed, when Santiago
kills the fish, the loss of life is somehow transcendently beautiful, as
opposed to the bold, senseless scavenging on the part of the sharks.