The Old Man and the Sea Group

Question:

cutiechandrika
cutiechandrika
Student
Graduate School

"A man can be destroyed but not defeated" To what extent is this maxim borne out in Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea?

Rate question:

Posted by cutiechandrika on Wednesday September 30, 2009 at 1:45 AM and tagged with literature, the old man and the sea.

Answers:

  1. mshurn
    mshurn Teacher
    College - Freshman

    eNotes Editor

    This philosophical view and literary theme of Hemingway's applies more aptly to some of his other heroes than it does to Santiago. For instance, Lt. Henry in A Farewell to Arms is emotionally destroyed by Catherine's death, but he is not defeated in this sense. At the conclusion of the novel, he walks away from the hospital, alone, but he goes on. Like the classic Hemingway hero, he will endure through courage and will, although life has lost all meaning for him.

    In The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago experiences great losses, one after another. However, in the novel's conclusion, he is neither destroyed nor defeated. His spirit is intact, and he does not view his loss of the great fish as a defeat. He will go back to the sea again. He still dreams of the lions, just as he had before his great adventure.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/old-man-and-the-sea/themes

    Rate answer:

    Posted by mshurn on Thursday October 1, 2009 at 3:27 PM