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Interpretations of the Old Man

Interpretations of the Old Man. “I tried to make a real old man, a real boy, a real sea and a real fish and a real shark, but if I make them good and true enough they would mean many things. The hardest thing is to make something really true and sometimes truer than true.”

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Interpretations of the Old Man

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  1. Interpretations of the Old Man

  2. “I tried to make a real old man, a real boy, a real sea and a real fish and a real shark, but if I make them good and true enough they would mean many things. The hardest thing is to make something really true and sometimes truer than true.” – Ernest Hemingway, 1954

  3. An Allegory? Important Elements to Consider: Sacrifice, Sin, Rebirth, Power… Many critics believe The Old Man and the Sea is a Christian allegory... Of Christ - Of Cain - …his sacrifice? ...killing his brother? “cutting his forehead…” “scars on his hands” “He is my brother. But I must kill him...” “...he picked the mast up and put it on his shoulder” No reason  “I am a fisherman...he is a fish” He does not profit... Manolin as disciple? Wandering = Dreams?

  4. An Exploration of Old Age? Hemingway has been quoted as saying: “What I want to be when I am old is a wise old man who won’t bore...Would like to make good love until I was eighty-five...I wouldn’t sit on park benches...” Hemingway, during his youth, was known for his virility and tried to maintain his youthfulness well until his death at 61. The Old Man and the Sea could be his way of coping with old age and the loss of his youthful vigour. “He dreamed of lions...they played like young cats”/ Memory of arm wrestling  inability to put the past behind him Strength vs. “tricks”/know-how What, then, do we make of the ending? Loss of wife/ Battle against marlin The fight against old age is a lonely one Last novel he published. Circumstances of his death

  5. A Parable...(A simple story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson) About perseverance in the face of defeat? About man’s relationship with nature? Connection with Nature? “He is my brother” “I am a strange old man,”/"If you’re not tired, fish," he said aloud, "you must be very strange." Man’s Dominance? Catches the fish Kills seven sharks Man wins? Old man = Legend? Continues on in the end? Nature’s Dominance? Old man’s reliance on fish Old man loses? Sharks, marlin win? • Physical pain – forehead, hand, back, thirst, hunger • Emotional pain? • "Fish," he said softly, aloud, "I’ll stay with you until I am dead.” • “I will show him what a man can do and what a man endures.” • “Fight them,” he said. “I’ll fight them until I die.”

  6. An Existential Tale? • Existentialism is a philosophical movement that centers on analysis of individual existence in an unpredictable universe and the plight of the individual who must assume ultimate responsibility for acts of free will without any certain knowledge of what is right or wrong or good or bad • Unpredictable universe? • “unlucky” • eighty-four days without a fish • sharks • Free will? • “The old man knew he was going far out” • Could release the marlin • Why doesn’t he? • Hemingway Code? • What is Hemingway telling us about our lives?

  7. What do you think? Other interpretations?

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