Post by King John on May 23, 2008 13:59:41 GMT -6
One slight correction — there were *two* apostles named James. St. James "the Greater" (not necessarily the more important, maybe only "the taller" or "the bigger") was the brother of St. John, presumably a fisherman (!), and is the patron Saint of Spain, honoured most importantly at the pilgrimage shrine of Santiago de Compostela. St. James "the Lesser" is probably the same James who was "brother of Christ", first Bishop of Jerusalem, and author of the Epistle of St. James. So it's not the brother-of-Christ James that people usually think of as "Santiago".
I don't know what to make of the apparently deliberate references to Christ in connection both with the old man and with the fish. I don't think there's any allegory or straight symbolism working here; certainly Santiago isn't presented as suffering or sacrificing himself for the sake of others, and it would be really stretching, I think, to see him as some sort of avatar or incarnation of something transcendent — which is of course how Christians see Christ. If Hemingway is doing the symbolism backwards, as it were, trying to say something about Christ by what he says about Santiago, I can't figure out what it is. Maybe — great hesitation here — he's offering the old man's doggedness, resourcefulness, realism, skill as being the 20th-century's only possible approach to anything like salvation or redemption? (Replacing, one presumes, the old virtues like charity and humility and justice, as the qualities of the day.)
I was intrigued at the book's title. Given the story, I might have called it "The Old Man and the Fish"; but why "the Sea"? There's a kind of equality between the man and the animal — at least they can struggle against each other, and it's not clear which one will win —, but the sea is a whole different matter, vast and dark and ancient, and utterly beyond man's mastering. Maybe the title is saying that, rather than being (what you might have expected) simply a story of one guy and one fish fighting it out, this is the story of man, unavoidably and completely overpowered by nature, making some kind of contest, or statement, by his sheer heroic dignity and cunning.
I'm thinking Hemingway's guff about no symbolism in his stories should simply be discounted. This book is full of symbols, as are at least some of the stories. (Remember the valley with its lush and barren sides in a story about the aftermath of an abortion? or the snow on Kilimanjaro?) Papa was pulling someone's leg, I think.
— John R
I don't know what to make of the apparently deliberate references to Christ in connection both with the old man and with the fish. I don't think there's any allegory or straight symbolism working here; certainly Santiago isn't presented as suffering or sacrificing himself for the sake of others, and it would be really stretching, I think, to see him as some sort of avatar or incarnation of something transcendent — which is of course how Christians see Christ. If Hemingway is doing the symbolism backwards, as it were, trying to say something about Christ by what he says about Santiago, I can't figure out what it is. Maybe — great hesitation here — he's offering the old man's doggedness, resourcefulness, realism, skill as being the 20th-century's only possible approach to anything like salvation or redemption? (Replacing, one presumes, the old virtues like charity and humility and justice, as the qualities of the day.)
I was intrigued at the book's title. Given the story, I might have called it "The Old Man and the Fish"; but why "the Sea"? There's a kind of equality between the man and the animal — at least they can struggle against each other, and it's not clear which one will win —, but the sea is a whole different matter, vast and dark and ancient, and utterly beyond man's mastering. Maybe the title is saying that, rather than being (what you might have expected) simply a story of one guy and one fish fighting it out, this is the story of man, unavoidably and completely overpowered by nature, making some kind of contest, or statement, by his sheer heroic dignity and cunning.
I'm thinking Hemingway's guff about no symbolism in his stories should simply be discounted. This book is full of symbols, as are at least some of the stories. (Remember the valley with its lush and barren sides in a story about the aftermath of an abortion? or the snow on Kilimanjaro?) Papa was pulling someone's leg, I think.
— John R