By Ma
The point of view used in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man And The Sea is omniscient third person as the narrator is able to tell what and how the main characters think. In this way, a reader may obtain more subjective view from the narrator. As mentioned in the summary (click here to read), the old man is the main character of the story. The distance between the narrator and the old man helps create the solitude felt by the latter. What is more noteworthy is that though the old man is called Santiago, this Christian name appears only four times throughout the story.
The reason for the narrator to call him constantly the old man has probably something to do with his dignity. On three occasions, the name Santiago is said to be called by the boy Manolin. On the first two occasions, the boy attempts to persuade the old man to take him to the adventurous sail. For the third time, his name appeared when he is fighting alone with the marlin. His left hand is injured after the battle. The sun is soon set, and he tried to give solace to himself while recalling the moment he had beaten a man in arm wrestling. Then comes the comment of the narrator:
[T]he old man, who was not an old man then but was Santiago El Campeón. (p.70)
What differs ‘the old man’ from ‘Santiago’ is not simply the age, but perhaps the faith and dignity enjoyed by the calling of Santiago. However, everything seem to be transient. After the championship he won, nobody call him Santiago but El Campeón (the champion).
Near the end of the story, ‘Santiago’ appears in the story for the final time. When the fishermen look for the old man, the boy tells them not to disturb ‘Santiago’. Thus if ‘Santiago’ represents faith, then the calling by his own name does not only signify that the boy is faithful to him but he also demands subtly the fishermen to respect the old man, an attempt of which is to restore his dignity.
What is also interesting in the story is that the old man talks aloud even though it may be unnecessary. For example, when he alone succeeds in getting a good bait, he soliloquizes himself.
It was considered a virtue not to talk unnecessarily at sea and the old man had
always considered it so and respected it. But now he said his thoughts aloud many times since there was no one that they could annoy. (p.39)
Even though the old man thinks that restraining oneself from doing unnecessary talking is a ‘virtue’, he no longer bears and cares because of his loneliness. He is the only one to fish and to fight against the marlin and later the sharks.
Readers may be confused about when the old man muses and when he speaks to himself. However, when one focuses on the writing style, it is obvious that a quotation mark is never employed in his thinking, but is used when the old man makes a soliloquy.
From this one can infer three levels of thinking in the story. The first level, also called the superficial level, is that the old man speaks out his thoughts directly. This level involves mostly actions or interactions with his preys. At the second level, the old man does think but he does not verbally express it. These thoughts are pertinent to his confession of his faith, hope and confidence.
The third level, which I also call the deepest level, is the digging out of his memory. In the story, for example, the old man recalls chronologically how he succeeded in catching a female marlin, how he beat another man in the arm wrestling. These important memories relate the reality the old man is experiencing at this particular moment. In creating these three levels of thinking, the narrator succeeds in showing the reader vividly the character of the old man – Santiago – El Campeón. These three levels also demonstrate Hemingway’s own Iceberg theory of writing, where the first level is the most obvious and the third level the most ambiguous.
The last interesting point in the writing style is the occasional use of Spanish words, as are found in Hemingway’s other works: ‘Salao’, ‘Qué va’, and ‘Galanos’. ‘Salao’ is not a proper Spanish word but may be associated with ‘salado’ (translated as salty). If a fisherman is salty, or his body contains too much salt, it suggests that he have not been out to the sea for a long time. It thus implies the fisherman fails to catch a fish.
On the other hand, ‘Galanos’ means mottled in Spanish, suggesting possibly how disgusting the sharks are as they continue to devour the carcass of the marlin caught by the old man and kill his dream. These Spanish words may give readers a sense of foreignness, hinting that the story takes place in a foreign country, a more likely choice of which is Cuba where The Old Man and the Sea was written in 1951.
Do you have a different perspective on the same story? Whether you agree to my analysis or you have other ideas, feel free to comment below.
Reference:
Ernest Hemingway (1952). The Old Man and the Sea. Charles Scribner’s Sons. New York. [https://archive.org/details/oldmansea00hemi_1/page/n7/mode/2up]
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