The Biological Trap in Hemingway’s The Old Man and The Sea
Ernest Hemingway is one of the greatest writers that America has produced. His works have indeed, contributed immensely in shaping the literary path in his country. All his novels are tragedies and his heroes' tragic heroes because he is always conscious of man’s mortality. In this article, we have undertaken a critical study of Hemingway’s exploration of the theme of ‘the trapped man’ in The Old Man and the Sea. Hemingway believes that man is biologically trapped and doomed to suffer and die. This is clearly demonstrated by Frederick Henry in A Farewell to Arms. However, in The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago, the protagonist has demonstrated that though man is a victim of a hostile universe, he is not made for defeat. Santiago’s actions prove that with a dogged determination and focus, it is possible for humanity to overcome the biological trap and achieve success in life. We believe that this important lesson lays credence to the utilitarian value of literature to society. This prerequisite for overcoming the biological trap is a necessary antidote because the trap does not only hangover Hemingway’s characters but humanity as a whole.
The Biological Trap in Hemingway’s The Old Man and The Sea
The Old Man and the Sea is a very interesting story of a Cuban fisherman’s fight with a great fish. Santiago, simply referred to as the old man, has gone on fishing expeditions for eighty-four days without a catch. His bad luck has become so legendary that he is not only described as “salao” (a person of incurable bad luck) but the boy that used to go fishing with him as a trainee fisherman is withdrawn on a fortieth day by his parents and attached to a luckier boat. Due to his prolonged misfortune, the old man no longer can feed himself and would have died of hunger but for the intervention of his former apprentice, who though withdrawn from the old man, retains a deep affection for his former master and makes it a point of duty to care for the old man and provide him food and bait. In fact, the old man is so poor that no one would steal his property even if he carelessly leaves it outside. On the eighty-fifth day, the old man decides that the number eighty-five is usually a lucky number so he is determined to make the magic of this number work for him. He, therefore, goes out to fish with more determination than ever before and dares into waters or parts of the ocean rarely ventured into by other fishermen and here he gets the biggest catch of his life; and what a catch considering his many years on earth! The old man battles with the great fish for three days and just when he thinks he has won the battle, sharks appear to deprive him of his hard-won prize! He resolves to fight the sharks as well; saying, “Man is not made for defeat…. A man can be destroyed but not defeated” (75). With this determination, he kills four sharks and injures two others badly before he runs out of weapons but continues to fight with his oar even as darkness catches up with him and he can barely see his fish being torn away with impunity. In fact, we are told that he fights so much that, “he felt a strange taste in his mouth. It was slippery and sweet and he was afraid of it for a moment. But there was not much of it” (86). Santiago finally arrives home when everyone is asleep to be attended by the boy that has remained loyal to him all along and to the admiration of all the other fishermen whose perception of the old man changes forever. It is true that even in this novel the biological trap is evident in Santiago’s battle with the elements. We have the feeling of a man being the hunted species rather than the hunter; a recurrent thematic preoccupation in Hemingway’s works. However, it is significant to note that unlike what we see in most of his works particularly his A Farewell to Arms, Santiago has been excellently depicted. Here, we have a protagonist that has refused to resign to fate; Santiago has refused to meekly accept whatever nature dishes out to him. On the contrary, he has fought back every step of the way. Man is portrayed here as standing up to denounce, in the loudest terms possible, the docile posture of Hemingway’s heroes in his other works; a posture that irrevocably precipitates their destruction. In this novel, man’s philosophy of life is captured on page 75 where the old man says, “But man is not made for defeat…. A man can only be destroyed but not defeated”. It is this philosophy that empowers the old man to triumph at the end. This same determination can make any man overcome the biological trap no matter how formidable it may be. It is true that Santiago does not succeed in coming home with the whole fish but his success can be measured at various levels: at the first level, we can say Santiago has succeeded because he has permanently laid to rest the belief that he is “salao”. The fish he finally captures becomes a sort of tourist attraction even among fellow fishermen despite the fact that only the skeleton and the head survive to testify to its enormity. We are told that early the following morning, “many fishermen were around the skiff looking at what was lashed beside it, and one was in the water, his trousers rolled up, measuring the skeleton with a length of the line” (89). At the second level, Santiago has succeeded because as a result of his latest achievement, the old man’s former trainee, who was forced by his parents to abandon Santiago, decides to follow his mind and reunite with his master regardless of whatever anybody would think saying, “the hell with luck,… I’ll bring the luck with me’ (90). When asked what his family would say he laconically replies, “I do not care… we will fish together now for I still have much to learn” (90). This is a tacit admittance by the boy that the old man is the sole repository of knowledge and only from this fountain of knowledge can he draw enough experience to be a successful fisherman one day. At the third level and most significantly, Santiago has not abandoned fishing due to this terrible ordeal on the high sea. On the contrary, he resolves to be a better fisherman than he ever was.