TOMATS- Question Three / Part One

The universal theme in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea would be the strong sense of perseverance that Santiago has within him throughout his great journey to recapture his luck and prized marlin.  The old man never gives up his fight to claim what he wants, and needs to survive.  Going days upon days with almost little or no food at all, his fight to keep his physical strength was a great battle.  Yet, the old man never did once falter at every attempt the fish tried to escape his hold.  Through out the physical battery the fish put him through, the blood and tears of sweat and hard work, including excruciating mental exhaustion, the old man persevered until he achieved what he had been fighting for such a great amount of time; the marlin.  "This will kill him, the old man thought. He can't do this forever. But four hours later, the fish was still swimming steadily out to sea, towing the skiff, and the old man was braced solidly with the line across his back(Hemingway 45).” The fish has the perseverance that the old man has within him.  Both, tired and exhausted never give up.  Even on his journey home when the sharks started to tear his precious prize into a hundred bloody pieces, he stayed strong to protect it until there was little or nothing left. “Fish," he said softly, aloud, "I'll stay with you until I am dead." He'll stay with me too, I suppose, the old man thought and he waited for it to be light(Hemingway 52).”  Santiago wanted that marlin more than anything in the world. Food, water, and rest were both cast aside for the glory of bringing this fish back to the glowing lights of Havana to be prided by the fisherman and most certainly the old man’s little boy and partner, Manolin.  Santiago would never give up to show that his perseverance gave him great success.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.