The Old Man and the Sea: Symbols

            In The Old Man and the Sea, a couple of symbols stood out to me. The fist symbol is the marlin. The marlin represents hope and relief to the old man, Santiago. After going through an over eighty day streak of bad fishing, not catching any fish at all. This would be very discouraging to most people, but Santiago kept it very quiet and calm about the situation. Inside I am sure he was hoping and praying for something to catch in order to feed himself and make some money (Hemingway). This is when the marlin comes in and offers hope to the old man. The marlin represents hope because although he ends the old man’s bad luck streak, he does not provide any benefit in the end. The fish does not make it back from the five day journey, but does provide hope for Santiago’s future fishing trips.        

            The other symbols in the novel are the sharks. The sharks symbolize defeat and disappointment in the novel. The old man has finally caught the fish and has it strapped on the boat. Exhausted and hungry he was relieved to finally head home when the sharks come. This ends the hope of the marlin and begins the disappointment of the sharks. They attack the boat aiming for the marlin, and the old man struggles to fight them off. The sharks end up getting most of the marlin, only leaving the remains of the skeleton of the marlin (Hemingway 114). The old man has to just watch as more and more pounds of the marlin get eaten away. This is such a disappointment to the old man because he had such a large fish that could make him quite a bit of money, but all disappears when the sharks come. I believe Hemingway wanted the reader to see these two symbols as contrast of each other to add to the novel.   

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