The Old Man and the Sea: Defeat

“He knew he was beaten now finally and without remedy and he went back to the stern and found the jagged end of the tiller would fit in the slot of the rudder well enough for him to steer. He settled the sack around his shoulders and put the skiff on her course. He sailed lightly now and he had no thoughts nor any feelings of any kind.   He was past everything now and he sailed the skiff to make his home port as well and as intelligently as he could. In the night sharks hit the carcass as someone might pick up crumbs from the table. The old man paid no attention to them and did not pay any attention to anything except steering. He only noticed how lightly and bow well the skiff sailed now there was no great weight beside her" (Hemingway 119). Another theme of The Old Man and the Sea is defeat. Defeat is not something anyone wants to experience, but the truth is that everyone should. We need to go through defeat because it makes you stronger and in turn better. If you win everything, you never learn to enjoy and deserve it. If you experience defeat, you learn to want to make yourself better so it does not happen again. This is what Santiago goes through in the novel. He is defeated by the sharks that eat the marlin and leave him with nothing but bones (Hemingway 114). This defeat seems unfortunate, which it is, but the old man does get some positive things out of it. He earns his reputation back along with the boy who says he will fish with the old man from then on. This is what can come out of defeat. It does not always have to be bad and disheartening, but can be eye opening and driving to one who has been defeated.

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