The Old Man and the Sea

Hemingway uses the metaphor of the lions to signify people who live their lives as active participants. The tourists in the novel represent the individuals, who in observe their lives and are not active participants. In the novels that Ernest Hemingway writes, he uses metaphors to reflect his life experiences and opinions, these can also relate to those memories of the interviewee. Hemingway believes that in life everyone must find their own niche. “If there is a hurricane, you always see the signs of it in the sky for days ahead, if you are at sea. They do not see it ashore because they do not know what to look for, he thought. The land must make a difference too, in the shape of the clouds. But we have no hurricane coming now.”(Page 51) Hemingway theorizes that in life unexpected collisions will occur. Just as the sea creates storms life creates storms. Those who live life to the fullest will be the least affected by these storms because they have the strength and the knowledge to handle them, but the observers or those on land will be destroyed because they do not have the power to handle the destruction that the storms will cause. The individuals who are far out to sea have the knowledge that the ocean will test them with momentous storms, and this is why they go so far out to sea. “Live your life to its fullest before you become old like me, only you will know what is going to happen if anyone at all. “ (Interview) As a child Santiago visits Africa, and tells Manolin of the lions he sees. "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) These lions are testing their boundaries, seeing just how far they can go, just like the participants of actions in almost every scenario. This line also hints at Hemingway's belief that age impairs, but does not extinguish one's ability to be participants in their own lives. “One of my favorite memories was when