The Old Man and the Sea - Question 4

Who is the "hero?"

Obviously, the hero of the story is the old man. Right from the start, it is obvious that the old man is in some trouble. As it turns out, the "fisherman" was in a dry spell for fishing, and had gone 84 days without catching a fish. All of the younger fisherman put the old man down because he was not able to catch any fish. The old man had been in a similar situation before, and he was determined to make this dry spell shorter than the previous one. In the story, the man accomplishes many goals. The old man literally accomplishes his goal of catching a fish. The more important part of catching a fish is that the old man knew that his dry spell was over. And even though the fish was eaten by sharks, he himself knew that he had caught a fish. The old man had a great sense of pride and he would not rest until he was able to catch that fish to prove to everyone and himself that he could do it.

The old man carries a label through out the entire book: old man. Even if you are old, no one wants to be called an old man all the time. That would be just degrading. We only hear the man's actual name a few times in the story. I think that because of the old man's pride, he feels that he must catch the fish so that he can escape the name "old man."

The old man just wanted to catch a fish. I mean, come on, couldn't Hemingway just let him catch his fish and live happily ever after? That wouldn't have made for a very interesting story. The fact that the man's fish was eaten by sharks assured that the old man was the only one who knew that he had succeeded with his goal. It may have crushed the old man, but it also strengthened his moral character and eased his pride. The old man knew he had ended his streak, and that was all that mattered.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback fiction, 1995. Print.