Hemingway's Metaphor

In the book The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway uses many literary devices including metaphors. Hemingway uses the metaphor of the ocean to show life and the role that people play in their lives.

Hemingway uses the metaphor of the lions to signify people who live their lives as actively. The tourists in the book represent the people who in observe their lives and who do not take part in their own lives. In this book Ernest Hemingway uses metaphors to reflect his life experiences and opinions. The ocean is a metaphor, which represents Hemingway's view of life. Hemingway believes that in life everyone must find their own way and uses the metaphor of the ocean and the boats on it to show this to his readers.

"...most of the boats were
'When I was your age I was before the mast on a square
-rigged ship and that ship ran to Africa and I have seen lions on the beaches in the evening.'" (page 17)

Hemingway uses a metaphor of lions on the beach, because most lions wouldnt be on a beach unless its a river side.

The only lions that would be found on a beach are the lions who are like the humans who are active in their lives. The lions on the beach are going where other lions would not dare to go. These lions are testing their limits of life, seeing just how far they can go, just like the people they are representing.

"He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of great occurrences, nor of great fish, nor fights, nor contests of strength, nor of his wife. He only dreamed of places now and of the lions on the beach. The played like young cats in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy. He never dreamed about the boy." (page 19)

Santiago sees that all of his glories and good days were in his youth, and he strongly sees that the power the lions in his dreams are like what he had in his youth. Santiago slowly is losing his strength to take part in his life because of the limits and stress on the body that are brought along with
Hemingway uses many metaphors to show his opinions on life and the people he has met in it. The metaphor of the sea represents all of life and the roles and paths that people have to choose to take in life. The lions are the metaphor for the people Hemingway holds in a high regard and the type of person that Hemingway is. The tourists are a metaphor for all of the people who choose to sit by and live their life as observers but never want to get up and take part. Through Hemingway's use of strong metaphors in this book, readers gain an new knowledge of Hemingway's life or their own