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The Old Man and the Sea is a narrative of Santiago, an elderly fisherman in Cuba who experiences an existential crisis due to a streak of bad fishing luck. Santiago, desperate to prove himself, sails out on his own into the Gulf Stream and, after a gruelling battle, reels in a huge marlin. When Santiago reaches the shore, the marlin has been stripped of all but its skeleton and head due to shark attacks. Santiago's fortitude and endurance are highlighted as the novella tackles themes of tenacity, bravery, and the struggle of man against nature. Santiago's character is a representation of the post-war disillusionment, and "The Old Man and the Sea" has been connected to the socioeconomic realities of the twentieth century. The novella's concerns were influenced by existentialism, an influential philosophical movement of the time. The voyage of Santiago embodies existential notions of freedom, responsibility, and the quest for meaning in a futile world. Through Santiago's observations of life's peculiarities and his search for meaning, the existential crisis is portrayed. Hemingway's experiences, existentialist philosophy, and the intricacies of modernity in the 20th century all had an impact on the depth and breadth of The Old Man and the Sea, a profound investigation of the human spirit and endurance. The novella's timeless themes and simple writing style continue to captivate readers.

This paper seeks to understand the existential crisis as seen in Hemingway's novel The Old Man and the Sea.

Hemingway’s novel has been read in context of several socio-economic conditions which were unavoidable in the twentieth century. One of these is the “lost generation”, where Santiago and other Hemmingway heroes are symptomatic of a disillusioned post-war condition. “Hemingway wrote to the post-war American mentality, and he was heralded as the preeminent novelist of the lost generation. His heroes were synonymous with the post war movement.”(Roach 3); however, it is important to note that Santiago is not the typical young man who has immense (failing) potential but a man in the end of his days “rag(ing) against the dying of the light” (Thomas). The novel is seen as modernist because of its symbolism, experimentation and overall optimism. It is also seen as an allegory of Hemingway’s struggles as an artist. Ernest Hemingway was also at a standstill during this point in his writing career, after Across the River into the Sea (1950)received negative reviews, immediately after which he wrote The Old Man and the Sea. It is said to be written in 8 weeks, and as Hemingway calls it, "the best I can write ever for all of my life"("Ernest Hemingway."). The novella draws heavily from Hemingway’s observations of fisher men's life in Cuba (Baker 294).

Modernity and its Crises

The term "modernity" refers to the part of history that began in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, continued into the 20th century, and was characterised by enormous societal, cultural, technological, and economic developments. It signifies a break from traditional ways of life and marked the beginning of an era that emphasizes progress, rationality, individualism, and the pursuit of knowledge. Instead of being a single, all-encompassing idea, modernity is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon that has influenced civilizations in many different ways around the world. Its effects have been particularly evident since the beginning of the twentieth century. The attitudes toward modernity have been varied, as Giddens notes,

Marx and Durkheim both saw the modern era as a troubled one. But each believed that the beneficent possibilities opened up by the modern era outweighed its negative characteristics. Marx saw class struggle as the source of fundamental schisms in the capitalistic order, but at the same time envisaged the emergence of a more humane social system. Durkheim believed the further expansion of industrialism would establish a harmonious and fulfilling social life, integrated through a combination of the division of labour and moral individualism. Max Weber was the most pessimistic among the three founding fathers, seeing the modern world as a paradoxical one in which material progress was obtained only at the cost of an expansion of bureaucracy that crushed individual creativity and autonomy (7).

Nevertheless, acknowledging the crisis of modernity, has been one of the central ideas pervading twentieth century literature, art and philosophy. As people tried to adjust to new lifestyles and societal expectations, the realisation of Modernity brought in a feeling of alienation. The disintegration of established social institutions is a result of the quickening of social change, which also includes urbanisation, industrialisation, and technical breakthroughs. This results in new disparities and uncertainties. The result was a loss in community links and a weakening of social ties.  Cultural tensions and conflicts of identity have grown. Urbanisation and industrialisation also resulted in resource depletion, pollution, and climate change, among other environmental disasters. The feeling of crisis and instability was rendered more pronounced by these difficulties. The two World Wars and increasing crimes against humanity were instrumental in the decline in faith. The crisis in Cuba, where this narrative is set, echoed the crisis in the world. This text was written at a time when the country was failing as a democracy shortly after gaining independence from Spain and about to fall prey to a dictatorship under Fulgencio Batista (“Cuban Revolution”).

Existentialism

One such philosophical movement which addresses this plight was existentialism. The philosophical school known as existentialism, which first appeared in the latter half of the nineteenth century and gained popularity in the middle of the twentieth, emphasizes the perplexing situation of the modern subject who, in the absence of God, is forced to grapple with the meaninglessness of life (Buchanan, 164). In the 1940s and 1950s, existential themes were central to the writings of thinkers like Jean-Paul Satre, Simone de Beauvoir and Albert Camus.

One of the most significant existentialist proponents of the 20th century was Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980). The famous quote from Sartre goes, "Existence precedes essence." This indicates that human beings first exist before they are defined by their choices and behaviours, in contrast to objects or artifacts whose essence (purpose or nature) is predetermined before they exist. People are free to create their own identities; there is no set human nature. He proposed the idea that we as humans are always free to determine how to act or what our own values are. He also acknowledged that the realisation of ultimate freedom and the absurdity of life, however, may also result in agony and despair. In order to study existential themes, the philosopher also turned to literature. (Sartre, Jean Paul: Existentialism | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy) 

Albert Camus was closely associated with existentialism, but he also established his own philosophical perspective known as absurdism. Camus addressed issues of purpose, rebellion, and the pursuit of authenticity while examining the absurdity of life and the human predicament. In The Myth of Sisyphus, one of his most well-known philosophical articles, he examines the myth of the man who was destined to roll a rock uphill for all of eternity. According to Camus, Sisyphus' act of rebellion consisted of giving the boulder-pushing itself meaning and purpose, despite the fact that it was ultimately pointless. “At this point of his effort man stands face to face with the irrational. He feels within him his longing for happiness and for reason. The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world” (28). However, the fate of Santiago is determined both by existential and absurdist themes. While he succeeds in breaking the Sisyphusian cycle  by finally getting a catch, all his struggle with and against the marlin concludes in material nothingness  and all he now hold is the experience of the deed done for the sake of it. 

Existential Themes in the Old Man and the Sea 

The protagonist, Santiago is introduced as an old man who fished alone; he had lost his companion, a young boy who was under his apprenticeship until recently, because he had not caught one fish in 84 days. This boy Manolin, who had been relocated by his parents forty days ago, is the only character in the book that believes in him and cares for him (Hemingway 5). Not surprisingly, in his venture, the old man often wishes he had the boy. “Salao, the worst form of unlucky” (3), as he was identified, Santiago is seen swinging between faith and pessimism all through the book. Nonetheless, he holds on to his composure. While advising the boy to stay with the lucky boat, but did not stop thinking that the eighty fifth day was his lucky day (4).

The existential crisis is brought out in the narrative by the contrasting images. One of these is the old man’s struggle to come in terms with his age. While we see him as a “thin” and “gaunt” with specks on his skin, a man struggling to hold on to his life, the aged body is contrasted against his youth, the man who won the long hand wrestling match. He is so old that when he shuts his eyes, his face appears lifeless, yet he dreams of Africa, lions and beaches which symbolise his youth. With death hanging on his shoulders, the man sets out on his expedition, and even when almost everything goes against him, he holds on to the lines. Another similar image used in this manner is that of the left hand, a weak counterpart of the right.

Though mostly hopeful, Santiago is not free from the anxiety that sprouts from his decision to continue sailing with the fish. He keeps reminding the readers and himself about life’s absurdities by talking of himself as a strange man or even showing relief about men not having to catch the sun or the moon instead of fish. In the end, the absurd meaninglessness of life that one finds in an existential crisis symbolised by the conversation of the waiter and the tourist. He calls the marlin’s carcass a shark’s, sharply contradicting the old man’s struggle (99). It maintains the existential ideal that one has to figure out their own meaning. The paradoxical love and respect for the fish and will to kill it is yet another example of the absurd life.   

The title of the book, interestingly, is not “The Old Man and the Fish”, it is the sea which plays a vital role in the story, though discussed far less than the marlin. It is the sea in which he takes this spiritual journey to catch fish and to also retrieve his faith. His body which cooperates at times and also disappoints and the sharks play crucial impediments to this journey. While people from the terrace keep commenting on his misfortunes, Santiago circles through his battle, and dies his own death gracefully, to assert his own existential value. He claims that man cannot be defeated but owns the defeat in the end by telling the boy that the sharks beat him. Even in admitting defeat, he takes the sole responsibility saying that it was just that he had gone too far. This is what an existential crisis climaxes with, the feeling that one just gives away too much.

Even after all his suffering, the old man proves that existence precedes essence. The day he had set out, his lucky day, he told himself, “It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.” When his left hand troubles him, he wonders why both of them were not made equally good by God, but then remembers not training both of them equally well.

The boy who is the legacy of the old man also shows this arc of struggle. Earlier his parents decide whom he must work for but at the end, he asserts his wish and reunites with his friend, finally identifying his freedom. Even the marlin, who eventually dies at the hands of the old man proves to be of “great dignity”. The blotches on the man’s skin, the patched shirt and sail are all badges of his successful existential struggle. His victory was not in bringing back the whole fish but choosing to not quit the task, which he seems to regret as he tells the marlin that he ruined them all. The Old Man and the Sea is therefore successful in highlighting the complicated details of an existential crisis: loss and gain, triumph and defeat, denial and acceptance.

1. Baker, Carlos. Hemingway: The Writer as Artist. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1956.

2. Buchanan, Ian. A Dictionary of Critical Theory. Oxford UP, USA, 2018.

3. Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays. translated by Justin O'Brien. New York: Vintage Books, 1991.

4. “Cuban Revolution.” HISTORY, 19 Aug. 2021, www.history.com/topics/latin-america/cuban-revolution#section_1.

5. "Ernest Hemingway." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 28 Jul. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway. Accessed 28 Jul. 2023.

6. Giddens, Anthony. The Consequences of Modernity. Polity Press, 1991.

7. Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. Random House, 1999.
8. Sartre, Jean Paul: Existentialism | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. iep.utm.edu/sartre-ex.
9. Thomas, Dylan. Collected Poems, 1934-1953. Orion Publishing Group, 2000.