The Old Man and the Sea Outline free essay sample

Themes of The Old Man and the Sea I. Introduction A. The story of a battle between an experienced fisherman, a marlin, and the struggles the old man has to overcome to be victorious. B. In Santiago, the central character of Old Man and the Sea, Earnest Hemingway has created a hero who personifies honor, courage, endurance, and faith. II. Honor A. As Santiago goes too far trying to catch the marlin, he ignores all the hardships involved in his duel, eventually catching the fish, justifying his pride and self-reliance. B. â€Å"You are killing me, fish, the old man thought. But you have a right to. Never have I seen a greater, or more beautiful, or a calmer or more noble thing than you, brother. Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who. † (92) a. Santiago comes to honor the marlin, so much that he doesn’t care if the marlin defeats him because he thinks of the fish as a dignified opponent C. We will write a custom essay sample on The Old Man and the Sea Outline or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Who gave this to you? Martin. The owner. I must thank him. I thanked him already, the boy said. You don’t need to thank him. I’ll give him the belly meat of a big fish, the old man said. Has he done this for us more than once? I think so. I must give him something more than the belly meat then. He is very thoughtful for us. (20) a. The old man doesn’t like accepting help from others, so he instead goes to find a way to repay Martin, because of his pride. III. Courage A. â€Å"He woke with the jerk of his right fist coming up against his face and the line burning out through his right hand. He had no feeling of his left hand but he braked all he could with his right and the line rushed out. Finally his left hand found the line and he leaned back against the line and now it burned his back and his left hand, and his left hand was taking all the strain and cutting badly. † (47) a. Throughout their duel, the line has been cutting into Santiago, more and more as the days go by. b. He decides to keep battling the fish, holding in his pain in hopes to defeat it. B. In the novel, one was able to tell of the courage it took to kill the marlin. One can contrast this with Santiago’s killings of the sharks, which took little to no courage to do. C. For one brief moment, Santiago accepts defeat, saying, I never knew how easy it is when youre beaten. But, of course, Santiago is not beaten. He has the courage left to return home, to drag himself to his hut, to face Manolin, and to accept the loss of his greatest catch. IV. Enduring A. A big example of Santiago’s endurance is his will to stay out on sea and fish, even though he has been unlucky. He doesn’t catch great fish like he used to, and can barely even feed himself, but stills finds it in himself do what he is passionate for. B. ’Fish,’ he said softly, aloud, ‘I’ll stay with you until I am dead. ’ He’ll stay with me too, I suppose, the old man thought and he waited for it to be light. ’† (52-53) C. ‘I must save all my strength now. Christ, I did not know he was so big. ’ ‘I’ll kill him though,’ he said. ‘In all his greatness and his glory. ’ Although it is un just, he thought. But I will show him what a man can do and what a man endures. † (66) V. Faith A. His faith is shown at the beginning of the book when we found out that he has gone through eighty-four days of bad luck. Everyone knows that Santiago has lost his touch, but he still manages to go out every day, to fish, and do what he has been for his whole lifetime. His faith becomes renewed when he finds the marlin. B. â€Å"’I am not religious,’ he said. ‘But I will not ten Our Father’s and ten Hail Mary’s that I should catch this fish, and I promise to make a pilgrimage to the Virgin of Cobre if I catch him. That is a promise. ’† (66) a. Santiago has a tendency to pray when we needs a boost in his morale and to keep faith in himself to keep battling the marlin. C. Santiago has faith in himself that he will keep going until the death, never to give up. He knows that the body is only weak, temporary, and vulnerable, and that the spirit is enduring, invincible, and eternal. This faith allows him to continue the duel. VI. Conclusion A. Ultimately, Santiagos honor, courage, endurance, and faith are what make him a symbol of a Christ-like figure, one that people would strive to be. B. We all have different struggles, with different foes, but Hemingway has created a character in The Old Man and the Sea, whose experiences could change the nature of human civilizaton.