The Old Man and the Sea: Perseverance

“I could just drift, he thought, and sleep and put a bight of line around my toe to wake me. But today is eighty-five days and I should fish the day well. Just then, watching his lines, he saw one of the projecting green sticks dip sharply" (Hemingway 54). This quote reveals a major theme of The Old Man and the Sea, perseverance. Perseverance plays a large part of the novel because it is what leads Santiago, the old man, on a five day journey. Santiago has been on an eighty-five day bad luck streak, without catching a single thing (Hemingway). He could just give up go home and rest, as the he says in the quote, or he can persevere. He makes the decision to fight on, because nothing can last forever and he is bound to catch a fish sometime. He does just this, and that is exactly what happens. His perseverance continues with the chase of the fish. He could have easily just cut the line and gone home, but he kept at it and although the outcome was not what he wanted nor expected, but had a light in it. Santiago broke the streak and regained his reputation with his fellow fishermen, which in the long term got the boy to come back to fish with him (Hemingway). The reader can learn a lot from this story because in our lives, sometimes it feels as though nothing can go right, but if we just persevere through it, something positive can come from it. Even if it is not quite what you expect, like in Santiago’s case, what does not kill you makes you stronger. This can help you learn the next time, and continue to grow. This is why perseverance is a major theme of the novel. We can all either learn to preserve, or be reminded nothing comes easily.     

 Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.