ipl-logo

Santiago's Excessive Pride In The Old Man And The Sea

1316 Words6 Pages

During the past few weeks, I have been reading the novella "The Old Man and the Sea", and I have enjoyed it very much. In this essay, I will be relating my thesis statement to my likes and dislikes about the book. To begin with, my thesis statement is: Santiago 's excessive pride leads to his own defeat. In my statement, I would like to define excessive pride as it relates to the book. In this passage, the pride represents the fish, and excessive pride means that when Santiago catches the fish, he is extremely proud of himself because it was the biggest marlin he has ever seen and experienced. During the process, as the sharks came and started biting the marlin, his pride was taken away bit by bit until he declared his own defeat. To prove my point, I would like to quote from the book: "He knew he was beaten now finally and without remedy and he went back to stern……" (Hemingway, 86). The fish represents his excessive pride because he suffered in …show more content…

To begin with, I would like to talk about some of the qualities of machismo shown in the book, and all of these qualities represent the old man 's excessive pride. I am going to talk about three points and why they led to the downfall of the old man 's pride. The first quote: "And pain does not matter to a man." (Hemingway, 61). This is because of the fact that he thinks he is strong; therefore, pain does not matter to him. However, later on in the book, pain does matter to him because his constant suffering was making him weaker and weaker. The second quote: "I have no cramps…" (Hemingway, 64). This also shows a sign of pride and machismo because again, the old man wants to prove that he is strong and able to catch the marlin. The last quote: "A man can be destroyed but not defeated." (Hemingway, 75). This is the strongest example of machismo and pride. I firmly believe that this quote foreshadows his eventual defeat and

Show More
Related
339 Words | 2 Pages

The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States. The Articles were ratified in 1781. The Articles were a loose union under authority of congress. They had three purposes; to declare war, raise an army, and so sign treaties. There were many strengths as well as many weaknesses that came out of the Articles.

Read More
1363 Words | 6 Pages

He encounters the external issue of physically disparity with the people that he get along with, and the internal conflicts between being a man with the characteristic that his father modeled for him or being a unique

Read More
872 Words | 4 Pages

Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who.” (92) Through this quote we can still how kind hearted the old man is, yet it seems that he is about to lose another battle on his 84+ day journey without a success. Hemingway further applies biblical allusions to his work in order to incorporate the new testament and the lessons that can be learned from it. “The sharks provide a final classic image in the story.

Read More
867 Words | 4 Pages

I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death” (p.558). With these words, the Narrator reflects on the events and the insights that he gained

Read More
889 Words | 4 Pages

He couldn't stand things, I guess." "Do many men kill themselves, Daddy?" "Not very many, Nick." (Hemingway, Indian Camp, p. ) Hemingway’s construction of gender identity is a theme intrinsically seen as part of his works.

Read More
643 Words | 3 Pages

A masculine person can be seen as someone who takes charge and suppresses any kind of weakness. During tough times, a “man” is seen as someone who steps up and takes charge. In Ernest Hemingway 's Indian Camp, Nick Adams learns what it means to become a man. Nick’s image of “ideal masculinity” is shaped through the examples of strength through suffering and violence by his father and the Native American husband. Nick’s father displays true masculinity because remains authoritative and displays an indomitable attitude through times of suffering.

Read More
1067 Words | 5 Pages

The novel, The Old Man and the Sea, is a story about an old man, Santiago, who experienced great adversity but did not give up. The author, Ernest Hemingway, describes how an old man uses his experience, his endurance and his hopefulness to catch a huge marlin, the biggest fish he has ever caught in his life. The old man experienced social-emotional, physical, and mental adversity. However, despite the overwhelming challenges, he did not allow them to hold him back but instead continued to pursue his goal of catching a fish with determination. Santiago’s character, his actions and the event in the novel reveals an underlying theme that even when one is facing incredible struggles, one should persevere.

Read More
987 Words | 4 Pages

Ernest Hemingway’s characters are frequently tested in their faith, beliefs, and ideas. To Hemingway’s characters, things that appear to be grounded in reality and unmovable facts frequently are not, revealing themselves to be hollow, personal mythologies. Hemingway shakes his characters out of their comfortable ignorance through traumatic events that usually cause a certain sense of disillusionment with characters mythologies, moving them to change their way of life. His characters usually, after becoming disillusioned, respond with depression, suicide, and nihilism. However, this is not always the case.

Read More
730 Words | 3 Pages

Hemingway wrote, “the sun rose thinly from the sea and the old man could see the other boats, low on the water and well in toward the shore, spread out across the current” (32). The old man was not scared of going out farther into the sea if it meant the possibility of catching a fish and ending his drought. Another time in the novel that the old man showed the properties of hero is when he hooked an enormous marlin and wouldn’t give up, even if it killed him. On page 92, the old man thinks to himself, “you are killing me, fish…” (Hemingway). The old man is showing his resolve to catch the

Read More
757 Words | 4 Pages

(Hemingway, 1952, p.29). Santiago was brave enough to accept the unavoidable thing like death or his mind was ready to face any struggle but he was a man who refused to accept defeat. He prove himself as a determined man through killing his opponent marlin. His destruction over his enemy and shark shows a bravery and heroic qualities in him. He is even willing to sacrifice his own life to bring the marline at shore which shows that his bravery is stronger than any other thing.

Read More
416 Words | 2 Pages

Pablo Neruda's choice of diction and literary devices combine to give off a very calm and soft tone. Neruda, throughout the piece conveys a sense of calmness using sounds and words such as: “sea”, “me”, and “waves . Each of these words fly off of the tongue with ease and grace, similar to how the seas waves are. Neruda creates the image of being near the sea by his diction by choosing words with smooth sounds such as: “me” ,”rose”, “foam”, and “vast”. These words create the soft sounds like what we would see at the sea and that was Neruda’s goal.

Read More
1166 Words | 5 Pages

Pride. Pride never changes. It has come in the same way since day one and every human and even animals experience the feeling of pride. The emotion starts from something little like getting an “A” on a test but grows a large as the pride of winning a war and living free. In Pride, by Dagoberto Gilb, readers are given both hidden and concrete examples of what pride is and people who have experienced grave amounts of it at once.

Read More
712 Words | 3 Pages

The punishment of hunger, and that he is against something that he does not comprehend, is everything”. These two examples constitute part of his journey on the sea, by comparing things like the brotherhood between the fish and his two

Read More
744 Words | 3 Pages

They begin discussing the old man’s attempt at suicide. The story which seems to start off about the old man really becomes about the fear the old waiter has of becoming like the old man. The importance of the characters, setting, and symbolism of the story all help Hemingway to express the hopelessness and loneliness of the old man and the older waiter. The story’s characters consist of the young waiter who is confident but seems to be a bit naïve about what life is really about.

Read More
840 Words | 4 Pages

The battle that The Old Man fights with the marlin, as well as the daunting task of defending the marlin from the countless sharks that follow the skiff, are two points in the novel where Hemingway really conveys the sense of struggling and suffering. This is how Hemingway tries to convey an underlying theme of the constant struggle between man and nature, by depicting the struggle between The Old Man and the Marlin, against all odds. The Old Man considers the fact that capturing the Marlin is such a great task for him since the Marlin is trying just as hard to evade and escape from The Old Man’s reach. Throughout this struggle, The Old Man, who eventually becomes very fatigued, keeps telling himself to push through the pain and bear it like a real man would. He pushes past the faintness and dizziness he experiences, he pushes himself to see beyond the black spots in his weary vision and he pushes past the pain in his hands to catch the Marlin which puts up a great fight against this frail old man.

Read More

More about Santiago's Excessive Pride In The Old Man And The Sea

Related Topics

Open Document