Hemingway Crucifixion Symbol Essay

Hemingway Crucifixion Symbolism

Hemingway used short, simple sentences and writing methods, but his words carried imagery

that displayed a deeper meaning. Hemingway managed to demonstrate his religion throughout his

writing with literature techniques. All through the novel The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway refers

back to the bible by likening the old man to Jesus. Santiago is compared to Jesus in the novel by

allusions and genuinely grand imagery throughout the text before, during and after the crucifixion.

Santiago, the old man in the novel, is corroborated as Jesus in the writing in allusion to Jesus 's

life before crucifixion. For example, “But after forty days without a fish...” Hemingway is relating

Santiago 's forty days
without a catch to Jesus 's walk through the desert that lasted forty days without

water. The number is considered biblical, so his mentioning it in the story was an allusion in itself.

Hemingway wrote, “He felt the line carefully with his right hand and noticed his hand was bleeding.”

He is relating the cut on the old man 's hand to the torture Jesus went through before being crucified.
In

relation to the old man 's struggle before the fish is actually caught and the physical and psychological

pain Jesus went through before being executed.

Santiago is shown struggling against the fish for a long and tortuous time, just as Jesus

struggled with the actual pain of being crucified. An example is, “He had pushed his straw hat hard

down on his head before he hooked the fish and it was cutting his forehead.” This is a reference to the

crown of thorns making Jesus bleed. Both headpieces injure and cause extreme discomfort that neither

can change at that moment. Another instance of this is, “There is no translation for this word and

perhaps it is just a noise such as a man might make, involuntarily, feeling the nail go through his hand

and into the wood.” This passage is talking about the small noise Santiago made as he was battling the

fish. The word, 'ay ', was an exclamation of pain Jesus might have made when he was being nailed to

the
cross.

In the novel, the fish dies instead of Santiago, momentarily transitioning the Jesus comparison

from Santiago to the extraordinary marlin, but the relation of the men after the crucifixion is still

prominent.. The novel reads this as, “Then he shouldered the mast and started to climb.” Hemingway

uses the allusion of both men carrying cross-shaped burdens on their backs. Santiago struggled and

had to rest to get the mast home same as Jesus carried the cross on his shoulders. Another instance that

this happens is, “Then the fish came alive, with his death in him...” This is an analogy to the way Jesus

rose after his death with life in him. The fish died permanently, unfortunately not having the power to

revive itself like Jesus did.

Using exemplary imagery and allusions, Hemingway successfully connects Santiago to Jesus

and demonstrates their struggles as honorable. Further use of this technique, the book has several

examples not mentioned above that Jesus is thinly veiled as Santiago. Hemingway managed, adeptly,

to organize the events in the novel to sequence themselves with the events in the bible. His

extraordinary writing skill and imagery techniques displayed Santiago as Jesus before, during, and

after crucifixion with ease any knowledge level could understand.

Works Cited
Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.