The Old Man And The Perennial Questions

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The Old Man and the Perennial Questions


The Old Man and the Sea is a classic novella by Ernest Hemingway that draws upon Socrates’ eternal Perennial Questions to put across a theme of honor in struggle, life, and death. The main character, Santiago, is an old fisherman who has been on a low for 84 days. Even though he has not caught anything, the boy, Manolin still looks up to him. Hemingway uses Santiago’s perseverance to show that he is a character to admire. Socrates’ questions also emphasize this point. “Am I free or determined” is the first query that stresses Hemingway’s themes.

In this work, many of Santiago’s actions reflect Socrates’ eternal question “Am I free or determined?” The main character feels that he does not control his luck with fishing – he says it is all up to God. Santiago thus thinks of himself as determined. Manolin, the boy that looks up to the old fisherman, tells Santiago that he is bound to have good luck because he had once gone 87 days without catching a fish. Manolin, also thinks that Santiago is determined, that his catching fish is all dependent on how many days he has gone without caching fish. This all happens before Santiago even leaves the shore and starts fishing. When he gets onto the sea, Santiago begins to speak to himself. While he is struggling with the Marlin, Santiago begins to wonder if it is his fate to be lead away by the fish. Whether it is his destiny to be pulled out to sea and die while trying to catch the fish. Santiago's insistence that he will sail out farther than ever before foreshadows his destruction, because the marlin is linked to Santiago, the marlin's death foreshadows Santiago's own destruction by the sharks. The sharks causing destruction by eating Santiago’s prized catch and ruining his chances of making a large profit at the market. Making a profit at the market is one that Santiago claims to know and be sure of. This thought of his an...