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The Old Man and The Sea: Santiago as an Image of Christ Introduction Through the history of civilizations, as distant as the early ages when Homo Sapience first roamed the planet, man has incessantly entered into conflict with environment. As the ancient man has evolved, he has become over dependant on nature to the point where he takes benefit of its abundance of gifts. In spite of the fact that man has a tendency to desecrate nature, there are those who recognize and praise its power and make an effort to become one with it. Although it may looks like refreshing to know that man can appreciate nature, being truly considerate of nature is scarcely possible. Body A reader who has read Ernest Hemingway's prominent novel, The Old Man and the Sea, and has interpreted the major character as a lover of all beings is manipulated by Hemingway's usage of biblical allusions to propose a concealed Christ image in the old man. (Brenner, 34) The novel uses the eternal theme of men versus nature to tell a story, with the theme of allusions to Christ, of an old fisherman who, after losing his only reason for living, strives to prove himself a greater individual and discover the meaning of life through fighting with nature.
The person's name Santiago is a biblical name that translated into English from Spanish means Saint James. Those who are belongs to the Christian religion and have read "The Old Man and the Sea" recognize the old man as an indirect image to Saint Francis of Assisi. (Baker, 62) According to the bible, Saint Francis was born to a rich merchant and when he grew up, he distributed his riches among the poor people. Saint Francis of Assisi was best known for his love of birds and was believed to have the ability to speak with them. While at sea, Santiago speaks to all the birds that pass because of his isolation caused by the absence of his fishing partner, the boy named Mandolin.
One fish in particular flew by Santiago and fall on the stern of Santiago's boat. He then tells the fish that he looks so tired and should take a rest. "Take a good rest, small bird, " he said. "Then go in and take your chance like any man or bird or fish. " (Hemingway, 114) This chat with the bird conjures up the admonition given by Jesus to his group. Jesus said that if his supporters fought and gave it his or her all, they would be satisfied in the end. This is a lesson that fisherman learns by novel's end. After trying his hardest to defend his hundred-pound prize, the sharks still continue to eat every ounce of flesh on the fish's bone; however, the bones of the enormous creature remained and were the proof that he caught this huge fish. (Baker, 51) The people of his village rewarded Santiago with fame and respect. Also Santiago's saintliness is abruptly implicated at novel's start. "But after forty days without a fish the old man was now definitely and finally sala othe worst form of unlucky. " (Hemingway, 138) Santiago went forty days without getting and eating a single fish.
This was nature's examination. In comparison, for 40 days, Jesus was experienced by the Devil, and during that time he went without meal. Furthermore, the author of the novel went on to describing Santiago as a fisherman who shared almost the same physical scars as Christ. "His hands had the deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish but none of these scars were fresh. They were as old as erosion's in a fish-less desert. " (Hemingway, 81) The scars in the Santiago's hands bring to mind the scars remaining in the palms of Jesus after the crucifixion. The scars seemed as being "old as erosion's" supports the word Old in the title of the novel.
By this point, the connotations may seem like an accident, but deeper into the novel, the likelihood of a Jesus figure in Santiago image. The crucifixion of Christ is a symbol that is used repeatedly to maintain the notion that there may be a Jesus figure in Santiago. During Santiago's first night at open sea, the fish "made a surge that pulled him [Santiago] down on his face and made a cut below his eye. The blood ran down his cheek. " (Hemingway, 122) This excerpt presents the image of a man with a tear of blood on his cheek.
Strangely, this depiction recalls the famous painting of Christ with a tear of blood on his cheek after wearing the crown of thorns. The possibility of the biblical allusions just being a coincidence, by this time, is very difficult to support. The fish then continued to make two more lurches that present the stigmata of Jesus. The marlin's second lurch comes strongly and appears to be cued by fisherman calling him a "friend. "But I am with a friend the fish gave a sudden lurch that pulled the old man down onto the both felt the line carefully with his right hand and noticed his hand was bleeding. " (Hemingway, 129) This abstract attacks many themes. It may suggest that alliance, or any kind of a special relationship, can cause hurt; however, more significantly, the image of Jesus stigmata is presented again on the hands of Santiago. (Williams, 77 - 78) Also the abstract deals with the forces of nature and may assume that man cannot control environment. Santiago sufficiently arises as the image of Christ during the second night at open sea.
The last one reference to the stigmata occurs while Santiago is sleeping in his skiff. "He woke with the jerk of his right fist finally his left hand found the line and now it burned his back and his left hand, and his left hand was taking all the strain and cutting badly. " (Hemingway, 128) First, the stigmata from the circlet of thorns produced the drops of blood that rested on Santiago's cheeks. Second, the marlin lurched strongly and cut his right hand. Finally, the marlin lurched a third time, cutting his left hand and burning an mark on his body, completing the number of scars which were inflicted on the body of Jesus. The stigmata in the hands of Santiago are mentioned many times. "At is just a noise such a man might make feeling the nail go through his hands and into the wood. " (Hemingway, 92) This suggests Christ' crucifixion when he was putted to the cross.
Aside from the scars, which characterized the body of Christ, there are similar implications in the text that maintain the Christ image in old Santiago. Santiago wears the pole of his skiff on his shoulders to give the image of a man carrying a huge cross on his shoulders. Similar, Jesus Christ struggled to carry the cross on his shoulders up to the hill. "He untapped the mast then he shouldered the mast He started to climb again and at the top he fell and lay for some time with the mast across his shoulder. " (Hemingway, 133) This passage describes the pitiable image of an emaciated Christ hauling a cross that is possibly twice his body. When the old man finally reaches his home, he places the mast against the wall and flings himself on his couch with his hands upan action similarly done by Jesus. "Then he lay down on the bed slept face down on the newspapers with his arms out straight and the palms of his hands up. " (Hemingway, 209) Although the old man is suggested as a Christ, he lacks many of Jesus' characters.
One being his supposed love for creatures. Presenting Santiago as a man with a Christ image within him contradicts Santiago's actions through the tale. (Brenner, 91) Christ loves all animals that are created on Mother Planet. However, Santiago's actions obstruct with the potentiality of being a lover of all animals. In many events, he shouts in antipathy at the animals that injure or interfere him. When a "purple, formalized, iridescent, gelatinous bladder of a Portuguese man-of-war" floated to the top of the surface of the ocean and came near the skiff, it faced the oral abuse of Santiago. "You whore, " (Hemingway, 106) he shouted at the being. The old man does not get annoyed when the marlin cuts his palms, but when a sole Portuguese man-of-war floats near Santiago, he goes ballistic and shouts rude statements.
He shows hostility at its fullest when the shovel-nosed sharks approach his boat. "They were hateful sharks, bad smelling, scavengers as well as killers, and when they were hungry they would bite at an oar or the rudder of a boat they would hit a man in the water. " (Hemingway, 106) The old man describes the sharks as malicious beings that prey upon the innocent. Though Santiago respects "noble" animals such as the marlin, his motivation for killing it is self-validation the need to prove himself. These flaws in Santiago's character do not support the Jesus image. (Levin, 52) The fisherman has a steady need to be associated with the biggest and toughest animals in the world. He does not love the malicious shovel-nosed sharks or the venomous Portuguese man-of-war, but he loves the trunk back turtles that feed on the man-of-war and the Mako sharks that hunt not for the kill, but for existance. Santiago even loves the creatures that live on a complete different part of the Earth. He dreams of lions and desires to be one with lions.
He does not dream of lizards, rabbits, or dogs. Instead, he dreams of the king of beasts because he wants friendship with the highest class in the social order. Santiago will do anything to gain respect, even if it means he has to do something out of the normal behavior. Conclusion Santiago's wish to prove to himself and to those that doubt him that he is admirable and remarkable puts him into self-validating practices.
At times, he seems fanatical with proving himself. When he is killing the fish, he admits, "it is unjust. But I will show him what a man can do and what a man endures. " (159) Santiago is so determined to demonstrate what a person like himself can do that he kills the marlin persistently. This is a common characteristic of human beings.
Men, in many situations, feel the need to be proved and honored. Santiago is not an exception. He feels the need to demonstrate himself to be the superior one to any challenge. Though the biblical allusions help supplement the novel's reading, Santiago can best be identified as a ordinary person. He lost his wife and has nowhere to turn but environment. He seeks the admiration of those who doubt him and is determined to win their high opinion.
He loses the love of his life and found out that he has no one to rest on. Nature is his last remedy, but he cannot even depend on that. All of old man's actions distinguish the tendencies of a normal human being and under all of the implications to Jesus lies a person who is in desperate need of treatment. Bibliography: Carlos Baker, ed. , Ernest Hemingway: Critiques of Four Major Novels, Scribner's, 1962 Clifford Burns, "The Old Man and the Sea: Hemingway's Tragic Vision of Man, " in American Literature, January, 1960 Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea Scribner; Reissue edition, 1995 Harry Levin, "Observations on the Style of Ernest Hemingway, " in Hemingway: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Robert P.
Weeks, Prentice-Hall, 1962 Gerry Brenner, ed. , The Old Man and the Sea: The Story of a Common Man, Twayne, 1991 Glen Love, "Revaluing Nature: Towards an Ecological Criticism, " in Old West New West: Centennial Essays, ed. Barbara H. Meldrum, University of Idaho Press, 1993 Kathleen Morgan and Luis Load, "Santiago and The Old Man and the Sea: A Homeric Hero, " in The Hemingway Review, Vol. 12, No. 1, Fall, 1992 Joseph Waldmeir, "Confiteor Hominem: Ernest Hemingway's Religion of Man, " in Ernest Hemingway: Five Decades of Criticism, edited by Linda Welshimer Wagner, Michigan State University Press, 1974 Rose Marie Burwell, Hemingway: The Postwar Years and the Posthumous Novels, Cambridge University Press, 1996 Wirt Williams, "The Old Man and the Sea: The Culmination, " in The Tragic Art of Ernest Hemingway, Louisiana State University Press, 1981
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