NON AFRICAN PROSE ERNEST HEMINGWAY: The Old Man and The Sea Examine santiago's attitude to nature.

Answer Details

In Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago's attitude to nature is complex, blending love, reverence and kinship with a clear-eyed acceptance of the harsh law of struggle and survival. He is both nature's devoted admirer and its determined adversary.

Love and reverence for the sea. Santiago regards the sea with affection and respect. He thinks of it as la mar, the feminine form, as something that gives or withholds great favours and cannot help its nature, unlike the younger fishermen who call it el mar and treat it as a hostile contestant. To him the sea is beautiful and generous even when cruel.

Kinship with creatures. Santiago feels a deep brotherhood with the living things around him. He calls the stars, the flying fish and the birds his brothers, pities the small warbler that rests on his line, and sympathises with the sea turtles. Above all he comes to love the great marlin he is fighting, admiring its strength, dignity and nobility and calling it his brother even as he must kill it.

Respect for a worthy opponent. His struggle with the marlin is a contest between equals conducted with mutual respect. Santiago honours the fish as a noble creature and feels that it is worthy to take his life or that he is worthy to take its own. There is no hatred in the killing, only reverence.

Acceptance of nature's harsh order. Yet Santiago accepts that nature is a place of predation and struggle. Man must kill to live, and the fish was born to be a fish just as he was born to be a fisherman. When the sharks devour the marlin he feels guilt for having gone "too far out," beyond his rights, but he does not rebel against the natural law that has destroyed his prize.

Conclusion. Santiago's attitude to nature is therefore one of reverent love and kinship joined to stoic acceptance. He sees the sea and its creatures as brothers to be honoured, while recognising and enduring the merciless struggle for survival that binds all living things together.