I wrote this essay for Daniel Chlemmer's Popular Literature Post-test Assignment. A honest review after reading this book: Santiago deserves more! I personally need a story of Santiago in a younger version just to compare with his life in this book.
The title should be: A Psychoanalytic View: Santiago's Dilemma and Inner Conflicts in Hemingway's Novel The Old Man and The Sea.
Abstract
The Old Man and The Sea is a popular novella about Santiago’s passion for sea and fishing. The purpose of this essay is to uncover Santiago’s personality and his inner conflict. The writer uses Freud’s psychoanalysis theory and seeks the material with contextual and close-reading methods. It is found that Santiago’s dilemma about his distraught and life motivation is triggered by his surroundings. Furthermore, his dilemma causes a lot of inner conflict that leads him into bewilderment and troubles.
Keywords: dilemma, distraught, motivation, spirit, the sea.
1. Introduction
The Old Man and the Sea is written by a famous American writer Ernest Hemingway, which was his most popular work in that time. This novella—or short novel containing only 52 pages was published in 1952. This novel tells about a story about an old man named Santiago who has ambition and passion of sea and fish. He claims to be a famous and reliable Cuban fisherman when he was young. However, he shuts himself off from his surroundings and only be friends with Manolin, a young man. Manolin is also a fisherman who has a good career and he is supportive and caring to Santiago. This story mostly tells about Santiago’s journey in the sea to prove that he is capable to catch the largest fish in the sea. He starts the journey by himself and this journey will trigger him to understand about himself more.
The author will uncover the inner conflicts experienced by Santiago the main character. The author considers that Santiago’s traumatic past and his current social background plays a major role in shaping Santiago’s character. Also, the writer will split up the discussion into three topics which are the intrinsic element analysis, the triggers of Santiago’s dilemma, and the inner conflict and dilemma of Santiago which containing the distraught and the life motivation of Santiago as portrayed in The Old Man and The Sea novella.
2. Theoretical Frameworks
2.1 Intrinsic Elements
2.1.1 Theme
Theme is the tale’s central idea. What the author is trying to imply to the reader may be the definition of the theme. In this way, it may contain more than one themes in one story. The theme is meandered and it should reflect the action, contract, and impulse of the character.
2.1.2 Character
A Character is a being, person, animal, or thing. Character plays out the actions and they also engage in dialogues, so that the story is noticed as progressive. Furthermore, characterization is the subtleties of a single character such that characterization reflects the plot as well as the conflicts or tension that will soon evolve in the plot.
2.1.3 Plot and Conflict
A plot is the strings of events that make up a tale. To be more specific, the plot indicates how the story is being developed, fluttered, and shifted in sequences. As according to the Literary Terms, there are five plot phases which are exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and denouement. Exposition presents the actors and establishes the story, rising action builds up the tensions that are going on in the plot, the climax peaks the tension, falling action is where the conflict is declining and postponed, and denouement is the end of the plot. The conclusion of each character in the tale will be explained in the denouement.
As Schreiner points out, conflict is the main premise within the story. This motivates the actors to perform and it guides the event or outcome of the story. For certain situations, there will be more than one conflicts occured in the same time. There are four categories of conflict which are character vs character, character vs self, character vs nature, and character vs society.
2.1.4 Viewpoint
The point of view is the perception of the story, which shows us the assumptions or feelings of the character in the story. The author allows the readers to hear and see what’s going on in a novel. Viewpoint is categorized into three separate forms, which are the first-person viewpoint, second-person viewpoint, and third-person viewpoints. First-person viewpoint includes pronouns “I” or “we”, while second-person viewpoint utilizes the pronoun “you”, and the third-person viewpoint employs “he”, “she”, “it”, “they”, or name.
2.1.5 Setting
Setting is the time and location in the storyline. The setting may likewise incorporate the environment where the story happens, which can be comprised of the physical area, climate, atmosphere, or social and cultural surroundings. The setting of a story will shift through the storyline.
2.2 Extrinsic Elements
2.2.1 The Id, Ego, and Superego
According to Sigmund Freud, humans are associated with three elements that build their behavior which are the id, ego, and superego. These elements decide and describe humans’ interaction as well as their mental life and behavior in the society. It is also connected with the sexual desire, aggressive drives, and strong impulses of humans.
Id is the fundamental desire that has been acquired since humans were born (Cherry, 2018). This also contains the libido or impulse which will demand humans to seek for pleasure. It can be said that id drives humans to act or do something. Moreover, ego is the mediator between id and superego which notices the reality or actual condition (Freud, 1923: 110). The ego will limit humans to satisfy or fulfill their needs according to humans’ consciousness. Last, the superego is the reflection of socio-cultural regulation which will influence humans to do good deeds (Freud, 1923: 89-90). This is the product of ego-ideal and conscience that will be resulting in perfection.
2.2.2 Distraught
Distraught or despair is the result of negative emotion or reaction that will manifest itself as fear or anxiety and it culminates into depression (Fleming, 2004: 17). It is a common emotion of humans and it usually happens at least once in humans’ life. There is a relation between distraught and hopelessness or discouragement. Distraught has bad influences on humans. It can be caused by many motives such as loss, death, crisis, or any traumatic experiences.
2.2.3 Life Motivation
According to Curley (1984), life motivation is caused by the spirit of life. The spirit of life is contrary to distraught. It has positive effects on humans, so that they will be encouraged to do good things that will lead to a positive way of thinking. Life spirit will prevent any fear or anxiety and it will trigger human to fulfill their needs and impulses. Life spirit will spur humans’ motivation to continue their life and pursue their dreams and passion. In conclusion, life spirit will result in human’s life motivation.
3. Analysis
3.1. Intrinsic Elements
3.1.1 Theme
The main theme of this novella is pride, passion, and struggle of an old man. Santiago seems struggling to pursue his dream and prove that the society wrong about him. It is also depicted from Santiago’s sustainable spirit after failling in catching fish for countless days—he refuses to surrender and he tries so hard to catch the largest fish. Santiago can be noticed as a hero based on the writer’s interpretation. He faces many struggles and failures, however, he bravely surmounts and finally becomes the winner of himself.
Furthermore, the writer notices that there is a strong bond of friendship between Santiago and Manolin the fisherman. Their bound denotes the unconditional love between them as implied in their actions. Also, it is found that forbearance and loyalty theme are also lie in this novella. These features lead to a bigger theme which is unconditional love for both Manolin and the late Santiago’s wife.
3.1.2 Characters
The Old Man Santiago is the main character of this novella. Santiago is depicted as a man who loves the sea, and he calls it La Mar which in Spanish means ‘the sea’ in feminine noun form. Santiago lives alone in a small crib because her wife left him dead, as quoted in, “Once there had been a tinted photograph of his wife on the wall but he had taken it down because it made him too lonely to see it...” (Hemingway, 1952: 3).
Santiago is an ambitious and prideful fisherman, however, he is often unlucky and has difficulty finding fish (Hemingway, 1952:1). He idolizes DiMaggio, a baseball athlete known as The Great DiMaggio (Hemingway, 1952: 5), because he finds compatibility of fate with him. DiMaggio is told as a son of a fisherman whose life is difficult and poor similar with Santiago (Hemingway, 1952: 7), but he is not discouraged by all limitations, as quoted in “...but I must have confidence and I be worthy of the great DiMaggio who does all things perfectly even with the pain of the bone spur in his heel” (Hemingway, 1952: 25). DiMaggio inspires Santiago to continue the struggle and solitude in his life. Santiago wants to prove that he is indeed a reliable fisherman with a lot of experiences in the society who often humiliate him.
Despite living alone, Santiago has a loyal friend who is currently a successful fisherman named Manolin. From the dialogue between Manolin and Santiago, it can be implied that they understand each other’s feelings and conditions. The father of Manolin is a fortunate fisherman, “...and you are in a lucky boat” (Hemingway, 1952: 3). Santiago loves Manolin as his own child, as in quote, “The old man looked at him with his sun-burned, confident loving eyes. “If you were my boy I’d take you out and gamble.” he said” (Hemingway, 1952: 3). Manolin also has the same feeling on Santiago and he loves Santiago as a father and proved by his affections toward Santiago, “The boy left him there and when he came back the old man was still asleep” (Hemingway, 1952: 5). Santiago feels cheered and grateful by having Manolin beside him because Manolin is a good listener and also a caring person.
Although Santiago claims he is a reliable and prowess fisherman who is identical for killing animals, he is also known as an animal lover as quoted in “He was very fond of flying fish ... He was sorry for the birds ...” (Hemingway, 1952: 10). He is also a detailed person and he understands the situation in the sea well (Hemingway, 1952: 10). He calls the sea as La Mar (Hemingway, 1952: 10) because he thinks that sea is similar to women—both of them cannot be controlled and sometimes they cause chaos.
Furthermore, although Santiago often gets ridicule behavior from fishermen around him, he remains optimistic as quoted in “Only I have no luck any more. But who knows? Maybe today. Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather to be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready” (Hemingway, 1952: 11). This signifies that he is an optimistic person and he will never give up to pursue his dreams and passion.
3.1.3 Plot and Conflicts
The story begins with the description of Santiago’s life and his surroundings. Hemingway also explains about Santiago’s passion and his condition at the beginning of the plot. Moreover, some characters and their connection with Santiago are also described at the beginning of the plot. These features can be implied as the exposition stage in the plot. Soon, when Santiago leaves the village to chase his impulsive dream, he decides to go to the sea by himself because Manolin’s father does not like him. This is the trigger of the next conflicts, so this is the rising action stage. Santiago finds many sea creatures and he starts to become ambitious. When a marlin fish comes closer to his boat, he becomes greedy and accidentally hurts his hand. However, this will lead to the climax of the plot. He is being chased by a lot of sharks because Santiago’s hand emit lots of blood that drag sharks out from their hideaway. The falling action is marked by the fruitfulness of Santiago after surviving from sharks. This story is ended with the founding of big fish around the beach in the village where Santiago lives. However, he keeps it lowkey about his battle against the sea. This story has a forward plotline, with a flashback twist when Santiago remembers about his succesful life when he was young. There are several unreal occurrences when Santiago describes his dreams to the readers.
The conflicts found in this storyline are man vs himself, man vs society, and man vs nature. The writer found that Hemingway tries to portray the conflict between Santiago and the society in a form of rejection by Santiago’s community. Santiago often gets shunned and mocked by other fishermen because they think Santiago is lying about his accomplishment in the past. Also, the conflict between Santiago and the nature is described when he tries to obscure from sharks. Moreover, he is crashing into big waves and unfriendly weather during his journey. Marlin fish, a giant fish that Santiago thinks is his best friend, also ‘betrayed’ him by dragging him into bewilderment. The highlighted point is he always has arguments to himself. He also often feel perplexed about himself.
In this novella, Santiago is often depicted in monology because he is alone at the sea. He tries to communicate to himself to ward off boredom and loneliness, and also he kills the time while waiting for the big fish as quoted in “He did not remember when he had first started to talk aloud when he was by himself. ... He had probably started to talk aloud, when alone, when the boy had left” (Hemingway, 1952: 14).
The first inner conflict he experienced is when he questions about his new behavior. He feels that talking aloud to himself is not the fishermen’s attitude, because they usually stingy. He is afraid of being labeled as a crazy fisherman because of his new habit, as quoted in “If the others heard me talking out loud they would think that I am crazy” (Hemingway, 1952: 14).
When he fails to catch big marlin, he immediately feels sorrow and he thinks that he is dependant to Manolin. This shows the contradiction in his mind, because he previously says to Manolin that he should not go with Santiago in this journey. He says this several times, “I wish I had the boy” which shows Santiago’s dependence on the loyal Manolin, “I can do nothing with him and he can do nothing without me” (Hemingway, 1952: 17).
Santiago often thinks about his glorious past, however, he is now an unlucky fisherman so that he is chagrined being a fisherman, “Perhaps I should not have been a fisherman, he thought” (Hemingway, 1952: 18). He is also involved in an inner fight about why he should and should not be a fisherman.
Santiago feels panicked when he is injured by the hook. Then, he becomes whiny and he thinks of Manolin, “What kind of a hand is that,” he said. “Cramp then if you want. Make yourself into a claw” (Hemingway, 1952: 21). However, he strengthened himself by saying, “You have only yourself and you have better work back to the last line now, in the dark or not in the dark ...” (Hemingway, 1952: 19). He applies toxic positivity to make him stronger without the existence of Manolin by saying, “It must uncramp. It is unworthy of it to be cramped” (Hemingway, 1952:21). He refuses to be in painful situation and remains to stay strong.
The Old Man may be thirst for recognition he deserves from fishermen community around him. So, he tries to talk to marlin fish about his condition. What an ironic situation considering that Santiago deserves appreciation and respect because he has a lot of experiences at his young age. He tries to the muted fish, “Let him think I am more man than I am and I will be so. I wish I was the fish, he thought, with everything he has against only my will and my intelligence” (Hemingway, 1952: 23-24).
At another moment, Santiago begins to be comfortable talking to himself. He sometimes overthinks and builds imagination about him being in another situation, for instance, “I wonder what the sea looks like from that height? They should be able to see the fish well and if they do not fly too high” (Hemingway, 1952: 26).
3.1.4 Viewpoint
This novella has an all-knowing third-person viewpoint. The author, Ernest Hemingway, tries to portray the story in detail to make the readers have their own interpretation, especially about Santiago’s psychological condition. His writing is known as Hemingway-isque which has its own unique characteristic to portray the plot situation.
3.1.5 Setting
The Old Man and The Sea takes set in a small village in Cuba around 1940. The story mostly takes place at the sea, when Santiago tries to catch the biggest and largest fish. However, some minor settings are also described in the story such as Santiago’s house, the cafe in the Village where Manolin and Santiago eat, and the beach where people notice that there is a huge fish—which is a marlin fish that is attached to Santiago’s boat in the later day.
The tone or situation of this novella reflects both positive and negative circumstances which shows that Santiago has an unstable condition. The tone shifts quickly from a serene and thoughtful tone to a strained tone when Santiago is being chased by sharks at the sea. The mood depicted in this story also depends on Santiago’s situation. He seems sorrowful about being far from Manolin, however he also feels vigorous when he finds many kind of sea creatures. The setting of place takes several days in the sea including day time and night time.
3.2 Extrinsic Elements
3.2.1 The Triggers of Santiago’s Dilemma and Inner Conflict
Santiago’s main id is to pursue his passion in catching largest fish in the world. He also fulfill his desire and passion and starts the journey by himself. Santiago is remarked as a self-centered person due to his ambitions. However, his id leads him to a dangerous event. On the other hand, Santiago’s ego is his loneliness and his poverty that prevent him to have normal life. His ego is also shown by his rational thinking about not killing the big marlin because he has be friend with it. Last, the superego shown by his toxic surroundings because he has been unlucky lately, as depicted in “They sat on the Terrace and many of fisherman made fun of the old man and he was not angry” (Hemingway, 1952: 2). The superego also occurs when he prays to God while stuck in a complicated situation. These stressful situation resulting in Santiago’s dilemma and inner conflict.
3.2.2 Santiago’s Dilemma and Inner Conflict
Santiago has dilemma between the distraught and life motivation. The writer found that Santiago has both distraught and life motivation so that he has dilemma and inner conflict. The inner conflict has been explained in the intrinsic elements analysis previously (see page 8-9). In this section, the writer will explain about his dilemma between the distraught and life motivation.
Santiago often feels unconcerned and helplessness because of his impulsive passion pushes him too hard, so at one point, he gets sick and tired in the journey. He thinks that he is nothing without Manolin, and he projects the situation would be better if Manolin was by his side. He once has a suicidal thought when big fish attacks him, as stated in “...Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who” (Hemingway 1952: 35). He also experiences traumatic grief because he lost his wife. Santiago has a soft heart, so he often gets sad about little things.
On the other hand, his life motivation is mostly because of Manolin’s existence. Later, he becomes dependant to Manolin which in some case, it kills him. Manolin is also projects several positive life motivation such as his passionate dream to become a well-known fisherman. This leads him to become an optimistic person with loving heart to the sea creatures. He never give up about his passion and dream so this is the sign of gallantry.
In conclusion, it is indicated that Santiago’s life motivation has defeated his own distraught or despair. Although he has several mental issue and sorrowness because he lost his wife few years ago, he has positive way of thinking which makes him survive. Manolin also has great influences to Santiago’s life. In the end, Santiago depends on Manolin and his passion to defeat his despair.
4. Conclusion
The Old Man and the Sea is a popular novella that tells about a Cuban old lonely man who tries to pursue his dreams and passion in the set of 1940s. He aspires to catch the largest fish in the world, so he decides to start a journey by himself. He does this due to prove fishermen society around him who usually mock him. Unexpectedly, he experiences dilemmas and inner conflicts and he begins to find the true meaning of himself during this expedition.
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