Schwake-Rios
American Literature Honors
18 April 2012
The Various Themes of The Old Man and the Sea
I. Introduction A. The story of a battle between an experienced fisherman, a marlin, and the struggles the old man has to overcome to be victorious. B. In Santiago, the central character of Old Man and the Sea, Earnest Hemingway has created a hero who personifies honor, courage, endurance, and faith. II. Honor A. As Santiago goes too far trying to catch the marlin, he ignores all the hardships involved in his duel, eventually catching the fish, justifying his pride and self-reliance. B. “You are killing me, fish, the old man thought. But you have a right to. Never have I seen a greater, or more beautiful, or a calmer or more noble thing than you, brother. Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who.” (92) a. Santiago comes to honor the marlin, so much that he doesn’t care if the marlin defeats him because he thinks of the fish as a dignified opponent C. "Who gave this to you?" "Martin. The owner." "I must thank him." "I thanked him already," the boy said. "You don’t need to thank him." "I’ll give him the belly meat of a big fish," the old man said. "Has he done this for us more than once?" "I think so." "I must give him something more than the belly meat then. He is very thoughtful for us." (20) a. The old man doesn’t like accepting help from others, so he instead goes to find a way to repay Martin, because of his pride. III. Courage A. “He woke with the jerk of his right fist coming up against his face and the line burning out through his right hand. He had no feeling of his left hand but he braked all he could with his right and the line rushed out. Finally his left hand found the line and he leaned back against the line and now it burned his back and his left hand, and his left hand was taking all the strain and cutting badly.” (47) a. Throughout their duel, the line has been cutting into