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Vitavas Kitiyanasap

Matthew Bishop

English 12

6th December 2017

Symbols of Masculine Ideal in The Old Man and the Sea

The Old man and the Sea is a famous novel written by Ernest Hemingway in 1951.

The story is about an old fisherman, Santiago, who found himself in the turning point of his

life. In order to gain back his pride and prove his worthy as a fisherman, he sailed his ship

and planned to catch a worthy fish as his trophy. Although, the main part of the story was

about a man trying to overcome himself, the author also include his perspective about the

society throughout the surrounding and nature in this story. From the context, Ernest

Hemingway included viewed of being a man into his The Old Man and the Sea. He pointed

out and represented the behaviors of men in the forms of animals and objects through the

view of the main character, Santiago. Some of the obvious points are that Ernest Hemingway

represents masculine ideal through a lion, fishes and the sun. These samples and evidence

provided below will help support my statement to the best.

To begin with, Santiagos dream of a lion represent the feel of mens pride. At the

very early of the story, Santiago mentioned a lot about the time when he first saw a lion on

the beach of South Africa throughout the story. For example, we learned that, at the present,

he stopped dreaming about women or any great events occurred in his life except for the lions

. Also, Hemingway wrote, He only dreamed of places now and of the lions on the beach

(Page 25). When we analyzed from the context, we might consider that the author represented

Santiago as the lions because he mention that the lions were on the beach where the

fishermen like Santiago stays. Therefore, we can assume that Santiago considering himself as

a male lion living on the beach. Moreover, later in the story, Santiago mentioned about his
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SYMBOLS OF MASCULINE IDEAL IN THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA

past as a champion of a hand game. He stated that he had beaten many strong men and the

great Cienfuegos, the most powerful man among fishermen (page 70). He described that the

competition was very intense, but he had finally gained the victory and the title of champion

(page 70), and it gave him a great confidence about his strength and pride. Therefore, we can

considered that Hemingway tried to represent Santiagos great desire of pride he once had in

the form of dream about the lions that are the great beasts (Warren & Patricia,2000) and live

by the sea. Furthermore, this thought can be related to masculine ideal which stated that men

need to show their strength in order to gain respects or be accepted (Sauer, Birgit, Starck, &

Kathleen, 2014) by the others like the lions which are considered as the king among beasts

because of their strength and harshness (Warren & Patricia,2000).

Although the symbolism of lions have represented the attitude of men, the behaviors

of male fishes described by Santiago represents the duties of men. Because Santiago is a

fisherman, the story would be related to the sea. Therefore, readers might recognize that a lot

of fishes are mentioned in the story. However, they are not just only side characters, but

Ernest Hemingway also represent the masculine ideal in their behaviors. One of the obvious

examples is the scene of the battle between fishes and Santiago which can represented about

men being the leaders and women being the followers (Shukla, 2016). Hemingway described,

Then he began to pity the great fish that he had hooked. He is wonderful and strange and

who knows how old he is, he thought.(Page 48), showing that Santiago strongly believed

and had already assumed that the fish was male. He also wrote, The male fish always let

the female fish feed first and the hooked fish, the female, made a wild, panic stricken,

despairing fight that soon exhaust her, and all time male had stayed with her, crossing the line

and circling with her on the surface (Page 49), stating that, in Santiago experience and

views, male fishes will fight the fisherman, and protect females which was not able to protect

herself. This idea can represent the masculine ideal which indicates that men need to be
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SYMBOLS OF MASCULINE IDEAL IN THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA

strong and brave to fight (Sauer, Birgit, Starck, & Kathleen, 2014). Women, however, are

considered as weaklings (Shukla, 2016) and need to depend on men to survive not only in the

fight, but the society expects males to feed females and sacrifice for them, such as working

hard and earning money for the family, but women must do the house work or take care of

their children (Shukla, 2016).

From the above samples, we might consider that Ernest Hemingway had chosen the

choice for the masculine ideals representatives. However, many readers has ignored one

obvious representative which is the mentioning about sun and moon that represent the power

of men over women. Santiago once said, Imagined each day a man must try to kill the moon,

he thought. The moon runs away. But imagine if a man each day should have to try to kill the

sun? We were born lucky, he thought. (Page 75), stating that the moon, in his point of view,

would not be able to compete with power of men and escaped from them unlike the sun.

From the lylicalworks.com, the author wrote, In most traditions, the Sun is considered a

masculine way of being. (About Sun Gods and Sun Symbols in Mythology and Your

Psyche, 2000), stating that in many literature the sun has been used as the symbol of power of

men. In many Western Myths, moreover, the sun and moon have been used as the

representative of god and goddess, respectively. For example, the twin gods, Apollo and

Artemis in Greek mythology is the god of the sun and goddess of the moon (About Sun Gods

and Sun Symbols in Mythology and Your Psyche, 2000). This believe can tell the view of

people about the different between males, which are powerful like the sun being independent

and the ruler like the sun ruling the sky during days (Ritter, 2015), and females as the moon

(Bond, 2002), which are less powerful and appears after the men (Shukla, 2016) during

nights. Furthermore, Santiago thought, The moon affect her as it does a woman (page 30),

implying that moon relate to the behavior of woman. Moreover, the change of moons

appearance is used to determine the period of months in the calendar (STAR DOME,2017).
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SYMBOLS OF MASCULINE IDEAL IN THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA

Therefore, we might assume Hemingway tried to tell the readers about womens period

because it came every month, and also affect the moods and behaviors of women (Bond,

2002). From the previous analysis, we also relate the moon with woman, for the sun, on the

other hand, is the opposite of the moon so it can represent men. Consequently, the mentioning

of the sun be more terrifying and harder to conquer than the moon can represented the idea of

men overpowered women in the society (Sauer, Birgit, Starck, & Kathleen, 2014). Therefore,

this idea is connect directly to the masculine ideal which imply that men are stronger and

more powerful than women

In conclusion, from these ideas, we can assume that Ernest Hemingway was

influenced by the masculine ideal, and include those idea in The Old Man and the Sea.

Although he did not state directly, those idea was represented through the view of the main

character about the king of beast, fishes, and the sun and moon. The evidences and samples

mentioned above will support my statement to the best.

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Bibliography
About Sun Gods and Sun Symbols in Mythology and Your Psyche. (2000). Retrieved from
http://www.lyricalworks.com/symbols/aboutsymbols.htm.
Bond, A. B. (2002, OCT 6). The Moon as a Symbol of Women And Why. Retrieved from
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/moon-as-symbol-of-women.html.
Hemingway, E. (2003). The Old Man and the Sea. New York: SCRIBNER.
Ritter, C. (2015, OCT 13). Symbols and their meaning : the Sun. Retrieved from
https://www.jweel.com/en/blog/p/2015/symbols-and-their-meaning-the-sun/.
Sauer, Birgit, Starck, Kathleen. (2014). A Man's World? Political Masculinities in Literature
and Culture. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishin.
Shukla, A. (2016, DEC 21). Depiction of women in literature through ages. Retrieved from
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/books/features/depiction-of-women-in-
literature-through-ages/articleshow/56084665.cms.
STAR DOME. (2017, March). In Astronomy (pp. 38-39).
Warren, Patricia Nell. (n.d.). King of Beasts: Manipulation of the Lion Symbol by Patriarchal
Culture. In P. N. Warren, Mythosphere (pp. 73-83).