This book has a few universal themes. One of the themes has to do with defeat. Nobody ever wants to be defeated. Santiago does not want to be defeated either. He puts up a fight when he tries to catch the big beautiful marlin. He does not want to come home defeated but the marlin is also putting up a fight because it doesn't want to be defeated either. Santiago is almost setting a new record for himself, going eighty-seven days without catching a good fish, so you can imagine his determination. When he finally hooks the marlin and ties him to the side of the boat, there is a glimmer of hope that his bad luck streak is over. Eventually though, sharks begin to smell the blood of the fish and after one comes, more begin to come as well. Santiago knows that there is really nothing he can do, but he fights anyway because he does not want to be defeated.
Another thing that Santiago does alot in the book is compare himself to the animals around him. (Hemingway, 37) By doing this, he makes himself apart of nature. When he is apart of nature, he does not have to compete with it, which means he will not be defeated by it.
I believe Hemingway understands alot about human nature. He understands people and the things that they feel. He understands the fear of failure and also the struggles that come with age. Also throughout the book, you can learn values like strength, courage, and patience. Hemingway shows all of these things through the character Santiago.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scibner Paperback
Fiction, 1995. Print.
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