Untitled Essay, Research Paper
Old Man and The Sea
In the novel The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway uses the
literary device of metaphors. Hemingway uses the metaphor of the ocean
to typify life and to picture the function that persons play in life.
Hemingway uses the metaphor of the king of beastss to mean people who live
their lives as active participants. The tourers in the fresh represent
the persons, who in observe their lives and are non active
participants. In the novels that Ernest Hemingway writes, he uses
metaphors to reflect his life experiences and sentiments. The ocean in
The Old Man and the Sea is a metaphor, which representsHemingway & # 8217 ; s personel position of life. Hemingway believes that in life
everyone must findtheir ain niche and uses the metaphor of the ocean and the boats on it
to demonstratethis & # 8230 ; .most of the boats were soundless except for the dip of the oars.
They spread apart after they were out of the oral cavity of the seaport and
each one headed for the portion of the ocean where he hoped to happen fish.
The old adult male knew he was traveling far out & # 8230 ; 1 ( page 22 ) Hemingway feels that in life there are people who participate in life
and people whoobserve life as it passes merely like on the ocean where there are boats
that do non prove theirboundaries. The boats are the people in life, and most of the boats are
silent. They paddlewithin the countries they know to be safe and ever are cautious non to
upset the life thatthey have established for themselves. Hemingway is explicating that most
people don & # 8217 ; traise a disturbance, they merely let life to go on to them. The old adult male
is proving hislimits, he is disputing the ocean, and rowing where he wants to travel,
non where the oceanwants to take him. Hemingway believes that in life, the farther a
individual corsets from theobservers, the more free and exhilarated they will be.If there is a hurricane, you ever see the marks of it in the sky for
yearss in front, if you are at sea. They do non see it ashore because they
make non cognize what to look for, he thought. The land must do a
difference excessively, in the form of the clouds. But we have no hurricane
coming now.2 ( page 51 ) Hemingway theorizes that in life there are traveling to be unexpected
hits. Merely as thesea creates storms life creates storms. Those who live life to the
fullest will be the leastaffected by these storms because they have the strength and the
cognition to handlethem, but the perceivers or those on land will be destroyed because they
do non hold thepower to manage the devastation that the storms will do. The
persons who are farout to sea hold the cognition that the ocean will prove them with
momentous storms, andthis is why they go so far out to sea. The people who Hemingway thinks
face life head-on are represented by king of beastss in the novel. Hemingway uses the metaphor of the king of beasts to picture the
participants in life.When Santiago is a kid he visits Africa, and tells Manolin of the
king of beastss he sees. & # 8220 ; When Iwas your age I was before the mast on a square-rigged ship and that
ship ran to Africaand I have seen king of beastss on the beaches in the evening. & # 8221 ; 3 ( page 17 )
Hemingway uses thelions on the beach as a metaphor, because most king of beastss would ne’er be
found on a beach.The merely lions that would of all time be found on a beach are the king of beastss who
are tantamount tothe worlds who are participants. The king of beastss on the beach are traveling where
most lionswould ne’er daring travel. These king of beastss are proving their boundaries, seeing
merely how far theycan travel, merely like participants. This line besides intimations at Hemingway & # 8217 ; s
belief that ageimpairs, but does non snuff out one & # 8217 ; s ability to be participants in
their ain lives.Santiago realizes that all of his glorifications were in his young person, and
strongly relates the powerthat the king of beastss in his dreams have to his young person. He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of adult females, nor of
great
happenings, nor of great fish, nor battles, nor competitions
of
strength, nor of his married woman. He merely dreamed of topographic points now and of the
king of beastss on the beach. The played like immature cats in the twilight and he loved
them as he loved the male child. He ne’er dreamed about the boy.4 ( page 19 ) Santiago is easy losing his ability to be an effectual participant in
his life because of thelimitations that are associated with aging. Hemingway besides experiences
inabilitiesthat he has ne’er known and which brings him into a depression.
Santiago is beginningto believe that he is non a participant in his life so he doesn & # 8217 ; T
depress himself bydreaming of anything other than the king of beastss, who are participants. In his
dreams, Santiago isliving vicariously through the king of beastss. The king of beastss represent all that
Hemingway of all time was, and what he wishes he still could be. The tourers in the novel are
metaphors for whatHemingway International Relations and Security Network & # 8217 ; t. The tourers are metaphors for the people Hemingway
believes
live their lives aspassive perceivers. The tourers appear merely briefly but the statement
that Hemingwaymakes through them is profound. That afternoon there was a party of tourer at the Patio
and
looking down in the H2O among the empty beer tins and dead barracudas
a adult female saw a great long white spinal column with a immense tail at the terminal that
lifted and swung with the tide while the east air current blew a heavy steady
sea outside the entryway to the seaport. & # 8216 ; What & # 8217 ; s that? & # 8217 ; she asked a
server and pointed to the long anchor of the great fish that was merely
now refuse waiting to travel out with the tide. & # 8216 ; Tiburon, & # 8217 ; the server
said, & # 8216 ; Eshark. & # 8217 ; He was intending to explicate what make bold grapnel happened.
& # 8216 ; I didn & # 8217 ; t cognize sharks had such fine-looking tails. & # 8217 ; & # 8216 ; I didn & # 8217 ; t either, & # 8217 ; her
male comrade said.5 ( page 109 ) These two tourers who speak are barely differentiated from the group
to which theybelong. They are all metaphors for persons who are witnesss of
the homo scenerather than participants in its activity. They see, but they see
without fullycomprehending. They are merely faintly funny, merely passingly
interested, onlysuperficially detecting, they have non been initiated into the
enigmas that Santiago understands. These tourers live their lives as
tourers, planing the surface of life, without declaration or lucidity.
Their life reflects that of all people who live their lives ashore, who
daring non grapple with the enigmas of the ocean, or of life. This is
the type of life that Hemingway ever tried to avoid, to the point of
his taking his ain life. Hemingway uses metaphors to reflect his
sentiments of life and the people that he has met in life. The metaphor
of the sea symbolizes all of life and the functions that people must take
to hold in life. The king of beastss are a metaphor for the people Hemingwayrespects and the type of individual Hemingway is. The tourers are a
metaphor for theindividuals who choose to populate their life as looker-ons but ne’er
participants. ThroughHemingway & # 8217 ; s usage of perforating metaphors in his novels, readers gain an
understandingof Hemingway & # 8217 ; s life and or their ain. Through his novels Hemingway
challengesevery member of society to acknowledge that most people are perceivers and
through his novelsdares them to head out to sea and catch their marlin.BibliographyHemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. Triad Grafton. London. 1976*All subsequent entries are from this source*
