Earnest
Hemingway in this novel has explained man’s constant struggle against the
forces of nature and his will power to accomplish his mission but one of the
tragic extract which has not been viewed lies in the title “The Old man” which
refers to old age or aging. Though Earnest himself has not tried to
highlight this aspect but surely the reader may point out at it and feel
loneliness of the old men who has no one with him and his sadness is revealed
when he was in the deep sea trying to accomplish his mission of catching a big
fish after eighty four days of bad luck and there the old men realized how
lonely he is and began to narrate his loneliness with all those people who are
left alone in their old age. The firm grip to his sadness and his feeling is more
clearly pointed out when he wishes more than 8 times that I wish “The boy was here” the boy was his
partner who normally goes with him but now he was with the lucky skiff. The old
man remembers the boy when he need support, salt and most often care and this
becomes crystal clear when he made non-human beings his friends the birds, the
ducks, flying fish and the big fish the one which he was going to harm.
One
can feel that the old man was bit sarcastic as he was talking to himself, with
his hands, sometimes with the bird and often with the big fish but it was a
trick to overcome his loneliness or may be his belief that someone was always
listening to him but there was no one. All these were signs of his loneliness.
The
other aspect which is thought provoking is the old man’s lust to kill the fish
whom he once called his friend and prove that he was a better fishermen the
this in though points out societies injustice that nowadays anyone can kill
anyone merely for pride and honor and this injustice is pointed out by the old
men when he said Sorry to the fish for coming so far for him and in the end
getting nothing as the enemies of old men the sharks proved that they were
better from the old men and old men was not anymore the king of sea and he has
gotten too old for this job now rather they were the one who were ruling the
sea now. The end makes the old man realized that probably he has grown too old
and now he is not a good fishermen and sharks has killed him though he put a
great fight but in the end he got nothing but just a mere journey !!