The Old Man and the Sea: Thoughts of Nature

You know what surprised me? How Santiago did not get upset with nature at all. He loved the sea, and the sea creatures in it, no matter what they were even the sharks. Nature was the main issue throughout the entire book of The Old Man and the Sea. Keep in mind that nature is involved in the fish, the sea, and even human nature.  Santiago was fishing for a marlin. It soon was eighty four days and still no fish.  He had bad luck with nature because he still hadn’t caught the fish.  When he did catch the fish sharks did come up and eat most of the marlin. The strange thing was he didn’t get mad a nature at all. It was one of his friends. “I still love the sea, the birds, and all of its creatures” (Hemingway 114). The funny thing is though; he eventually decides that he is not going to eat the fish. It’s sad because I think he just wanted one of the sea creatures to be his friend and actually be able to come home with him, to his small shack in Havana. As stated the sharks eat the marlin. It doesn’t seem like nature like Santiago but he sure does like him. Along the way Santiago also “talked” so some of the birds. They didn’t of course respond but I think all he wanted was company. Nature was where he could find where he wanted to be, and that specific type of nature was the sea.  He loved the sea with his whole heart, and everything in it. I don’t see why he still liked nature, it betrayed him! It was his last couple years on earth and nature still betrayed. I would not be happy with nature, but Santiago still loved nature. He also had bad confrontations with human nature when his wife died, and the boy wasn’t there to accompany him. As you can see Santiago is an extremely unselfish man, who loved nature because he thought it was his friend.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print