the old man and the sea and the nature

THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA AND THE NATURE

A novel which appreciates the God gift, The Old Man and The Sea seems to be a part of our universe. Because Ernest Hemingway serves the reader with a great Marlin, the blue sky, the stars, the shark, and the lion. That is why this work can be concluded as the author’s appreciation to the nature.

Sharing a life which is a capricious mixture of incredible beauty and deadly violence and in which all creatures are both hunter and hunted, they are bound together in its most primal relationship  CITATION Cli60 \p 4 \l 1033  (Clinton S. Burhans 4). Human being life and nature complement each other. They should be in relationship. Santiago, an old man, is the representation of person who appreciates his nature. He has been a part of his own nature. Our beloved nature must be cared as long as we breathe in this universe. A devoting relationship has to be created between us, human being and our nature in order to harmonize our precious life. What we see now shows how we as the best God creature, cannot synchronize to our nature. We have never considered what we have done to our nature.

Many people in Haiti suffers famine and cholera, more than a hundred people are died because of the extreme weather in Finland, and hundreds of Wasior people in Indonesia is swept away by the land slide. Those show how our beloved Earth; our nature gets angry to us. We are not able to be a person who thanks to what we have got. We always want more and more even we do not realize that we have destructed our own nature. So, who should be blamed because of a lot of disasters? Human being or our Earth. So, this great Hemingway novel can show us how a faithful Santiago wait for Marlin as his treasure of life. He asks the star to talk with him. He considers the sea as his wife. The appreciation which is shown by Santiago can be taken as a good example for us.  The love he can feel for such a universe and his humility  CITATION Cli60 \p 3 \l 1033  (Clinton S. Burhans 3).  According to this Clinton article, Santiago even thanks to what he is now. He loves just the way his life is. He does not protest or regret to what happens with him. Santiago does not blame God or even nature. He tries to give every dews of love into his universe. That is Santiago who is an old man with all his struggles and appreciation of nature.

Through the nature symbols, Hemingway correlates them into Santiago’s life. The old fisherman, moreover, lives pagan-like in a personified world: the sea is a woman (la mar); the marlin, the porpoises, and the stars are his "brothers  CITATION Ken70 \p 3 \l 1033  (Johnston 3). All of those symbols have been the best companion of Santiago in The Old Man and The Sea. Marlin is one of those. The great marlin is unlike the other fish which the old man catches; he is a spiritual more than a physical necessity. He is unlike the other fish, too, in that he is a worthy antagonist for the old man, and during his long ordeal, Santiago comes to pity the marlin and then to respect and to love him CITATION Cli60 \p 4 \l 1033   (Clinton S. Burhans 4). Here, this sacred fish which has been the treasure into the entire of this great novel influences Santigo’s life. Marlin is like his precious diamond. Marlin is like her wealth which needs to be struggled for. That is why the old man, Santiago must get it. The prestige and pride is the two human being “properties” which is to show that I exist in this world. So, what Santiago reaches is not only a very big Marlin but also the prestige which is brought by that precious fish. It is going to be awesome and great when an aging man can bring a very big Marlin. An old man will be regarded as a great old man when he can get the prestige of Marlin. He has been jeered up by others because of the title as an aging man. An old man cannot do what a youth can do. An old man is just waiting for his death. Although he kills Marlin in order to reach the prestige, he keeps appreciating that the most beautiful creature. in winning his struggle with the marlin and in killing him, the old man sets in motion the sequence of events which take from him the great fish whom he has come to love and with whom he identifies himself complete CITATION Cli60 \p 5 \l 1033   (Clinton S. Burhans 5). Santiago falls in love with his target, Marlin. It is not a usual love to someone. More than that he does respect this God creature, the power of Marlin has rooted into the Santiago’s blood. This holy fish unconsciously influences the way Santiago lives. He becomes a spirited old man. He is not like an old man but he has had a youth passion in his twilight age. How others insult him as an unlucky man. That is why he seems to prove to others that trough his twilight age he is not a useless man but he can create a great breakthrough.

One clearly sees how Hemingway used the star allusion to unite the major characters of the novel  CITATION Ken70 \p 4 \l 1033   (Johnston 4). After the powerful Marlin, now stars have been the object of Hemingway in The Old Man and The Sea. Stars are usually dealing with sailing. Stars can direct a sailor to the right way. Stars are like the sailor’s GPS. According to Johnston, why he states that starts in this Hemingway work unite the major characters is because of the constellation. It also strengthens the structure of the novel by joining the four stars of the tale- Santiago, Manolin, DiMaggio, and the marlin CITATION Ken70 \p 5 \l 1033   (Johnston 5). For examples, the Lodestar, a star, especially the Pole Star used to help find direction; it has the special structure which can join stars into one unity. Santiago, Manolim, Dimaggio, and Marlin are the story elements which are like a constellation. They influence and encourage each other. While Santiago is in the cliff of desperation, Manolin tries to raise his spirit. While an old man, Santiago is in the well of silence, DiMaggio asks him to talk with. Although Marlin does not seem to help him, this big fish finally has come to Santiago’s baits. The unity of constellation is the representation how they have been successfully in delivering the implicit message in this great literary work.

If the stars are the connector to the whole elements of nature in The Old Man and The Sea, now Sea will be the major setting of this novel. Sea may symbolize the unconscious thought or mind. It may symbolize the stage of life where the human being plays their roles. Sea contains of water. Sean can create a tidal wave. The unstable condition can be found in sea. Sometimes it is calm. Sometimes it is horrible. The changeable character as represented in this symbol is also found how human being character is. A careful study of the behavior of the creatures Santiago encounters at sea reveals an affirmation of the values of strength, total immersion in activity, and the exploitation of adversity CITATION Bic66 \p 3 \l 1033   (Sylvester 3). The unlucky man, Santiago must face how the death wave will sweep his skiff away. The power of an aging man is bet in this stage of life, sea. He must fight for the worst disaster which may come to his skiff. Hemingway seems to warn us in order to look out in this complicated world. The character of sea has gone into the soul of Santiago. The silence of Santiago turns into the aggressive of Santiago. His fear nerve seems to go away from his body. He decides to go into the gulf. The death sea is ignored by him. The passionate Santiago now is getting turned into the power of sea. The nature here really participates in building his braveness. Sea is the place where Santiago can reach his dream. Sea is the place where he spends with his Marlin. Sea gets Santiago to be a brave man.

The lions which Santiago dreams about and his description in terms of Christ symbols further suggest solidarity and love and humility as opposed to isolated individualism and pride. CITATION Cli60 \p 8 \l 1033   (Clinton S. Burhans 8). Clinton states that lion in Santiago’s dream is the representation of Christ symbols. He also described that solidarity and love are dealing with lion as the Christ symbols. Some of the literary analysts also consider The Old Man and The Sea as the representation of Jesus journey. But besides that, the lion here Santiago’s dream can be symbolization the power of youth which is contrast to Santiago. They represent virility, power, the promise of a better future and youth. The lion imagery at the end of the novel represents hope of eternal life. The decreasing power of an aging man is like when he was young.

The strength which is needed by Santiago to battle among the death sea now remains the aging power. It is like an ironic imagery. While the lion is dreamt, Santiago at his age now cannot be a lion. Although it is just a dream, Santiago’s life can be started from a dream. A dream which can give us a hope is the strength of life to lead us into the better life. The same as Santiago, in order to reach his dream, he must face a lot of barriers. It is not easy to catch a big Marlin while he is an aging man. It is not easy to break Santiago society’s thought that an old man is easy defeated. But the eternal power which is given by his dream can build up his passion and spirit. Thus the shield of lion skin is a symbol of courage and invulnerability. And so the old man's recurring dream of the young lions playing upon the beach in Africa may be likened to a kind of shield against the assaults of old age, a harking back to a period of his youthful courage and invincibility  CITATION Ken70 \p 4 \l 1033   (Johnston 4). So lion is the youthful dream when Santiago was young. When he was young, it is very easy to prove that he is a great man. Lion is just the symbol of strength. But the most important is how this power becomes his major spirit to dive into the ocean of misery.

Lion is the positive power for Santiago but it is different from Shark which must be fought by him. Shark is the number one killer fish. It causes death. It causes end of life. Fear of sharks means fear of death. It means that the fear comes closer into our life. As a result, the weakness of our life comes up earlier that we think. We fear means we are weak. We are weak to fight our fear. We are afraid of being lost in a struggle. But Santiago does not view that Shark is the God Creature which should be avoided. He even fights and kills them as the barrier. Sharks are the battle of life. How Santiago serves what he can is always obstructed by an offensive remark from his society. Thus, when the sharks come, it is almost as a thing expected, almost as a punishment which the old man brings upon himself in going far out "beyond all people  CITATION Ken70 \p 5 \l 1033   (Johnston 5). The insult is also the expected thing which comes to Santiago’s life. Learning from the Johnston statement, Santiago is able to predict that he will get insult from others because of his age and weakness. Johnston also tries to approach deeply the shark as the punishment symbol. Refers to Santiago characters, he is a very stubborn person. Although Manolin stops him sailing to the gulf, he stays to his principle. He must sail to the gulf in order to get his existence.

Santiago represents a noble and tragic individualism revealing what man can do in an indifferent universe which defeats him, and the love he can feel for such a universe and his humility before it.  CITATION Cli60 \p 3 \l 1033  (Clinton S. Burhans 3). Clinton here depicts that Santiago is a honest, not selfish, and brave person. He is not an old man who is easy defeated. But he is a man who is able to break the hardest reef even he must be hurt.