Who is the real genius? Santiago or Hemingway?

I planned to only read the third quarter of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea for this week but ended up just finishing it. I know it is impressive, considering it is the world’s shortest book.

I might as well give a little summary of the ending. Spoiler alert!

After an epic three-day long battle with the fish, Santiago finally triumphs. The fish’s size is so massive that Santiago cannot even fit its body onto his skiff. So, he ties the fish to his boat, and plans to drag it across the ocean on his way back to port. Everything seems perfect; the man's 84-day dry spell has finally ended, and his luck has changed. However, the next course of events proves that his luck certainly has not changed. As he sails toward the port, a shark begins to take bites of the giant fish, tearing off a huge piece of its flesh. Santiago kills the shark, but soon more and more sharks begin approaching his prized possession. Santiago kills shark after shark, until ultimately night comes, and he can no longer fend them off. As Santiago reaches the shore, all of fish’s flesh is gone. When Santiago reaches the shore, he pulls his skiff upon the beach and finds that only the massive skeleton of the great fish remains. Exhausted and delirious, Santiago makes his way to his house and passes out. The boy is there to take care of him the next morning, and the fishermen of the town are impressed when they see the skeleton of the fish tied to the old man’s skiff.

I could describe my reaction to the ending of the book, but I am going to leave that for another post. I decided to dedicate this post to Hemingway’s clever usage of dialogue and his ability to capture the thoughts of the old man.

In the story the man and the boy have a special connection. Although their admiration for each other could be described with endless words, they often just talk about baseball.

“The Yankees cannot lose.”

“But I fear the Indians of Cleveland. “

“Have faith in the Yankees my son. Think of the great DiMaggio.”

(Hemingway 17).

Baseball is a common topic of conversation between the boy and the old man. The passionate way that Santiago talks about the sport with the boy is almost comical. He makes Joe DiMaggio seem like God. I am not saying he is not a God. 361 home runs! That’s crazy!

Once Santiago wakes up from his coma like sleep after getting back to the town, the boy tells the old man “Don’t sit up” the boy said, “Drink this.” (Hemingway 124). He offers help to the old man in every way, showing is deep respect and love towards him. In this same scene, the boy says to Santiago “I missed you” (Hemingway 124). Santiago responds to this by asking the boy “What did you catch?”. (Hemingway 124). When alone at sea, the man constantly says, “I wish the boy was here” (Hemingway 50). He does reveal this to the boy because men aren't supposed to be emotional. There conversations are simple, even though they would like to say so much more to each other. They only talk about baseball and fishing.

I cannot capture my own thought process onto paper, not to mention someone else’s, but Hemingway certainly can. When reading this book, you are often transported into the old man’s mind. In the story, Santiago is constantly aware of what he needs to do to survive. To fight the fish, he knows he needs to rest, he thinks to himself “I'm clear enough in the head, he thought. Too clear. I am clear as the stars that are my brothers. Still I must sleep. They sleep and the moon and the sun sleep and even the ocean sleeps sometimes on certain days when there is no current and a flat calm.” (Hemingway 77). He understands that he must rest and provides evidence for this with interesting metaphors. He compares his need for sleep like the sun’s and the moon’s. The old man constantly thinks about different elements of life in a sensible and profound way. Hemingway does not just say the man is wise, he proves that he is wise.

The dialogue between the old man and the boy, and the old man’s thought process is what shows Hemingway's skill as a writer. Readers understand the love that Santiago and Manolin have for one another, but in their actual dialogue, they never actually say it to each other. Their relationship is strict to this time period’s society which encourages boys to not be emotional. Inside the old man’s mind, readers are introduced to a different way of life. If the sun must rest, so shall he. Santiago makes connections between himself and nature and understands his place in the world. With every challenge he faces, he knows exactly what to do. Hemingway must be a genius himself to create a character such as this.