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The Old Man and the Sea: Mirror of Hemingways Gender Uncertainty
The Old Man and the Sea is a short, one chapter novel written in 1951 by the
Modernist writer Ernest Hemingway in dedication to his deceased friends: Charlie Scribner
and Max Perkins. The story reveals the struggle between an old fisherman named Santiago,
who is the protagonist of the story with the marlin and sharks, in which both of the fishes are
considered as the antagonist of the story. Although the story revolves around a mans life and
presents the conventional patriarchal society, some parts of the story reflect the uncertainty of
gender through the characters. Within The Old Man and the Sea, the uncertainty of gender
reflected from Hemingways subconscious mind was illustrated through the two main
characters: the Sea' and Santiago, and the equal importance given to female and male.
Through characterization by using gendered language, the character the Sea in the
novella The Old Man and the Sea, is deemed to be both male and female. The sea, which
could be considered as both the setting and another main character of the novella, was
deemed to be a male by the young fishermen as it is stated that, Some of the younger
fishermen, those who used buoys as floats for their lines and had motorboats...spoke of her as
el mar which is masculine (pp. 29-30). Santiago, on the other hand, always refer to the sea
as a female as he has stated that, He always thought of the sea as la mar which is what
people call her in Spanish when they love her (p.29). Other than that, Santiago has cursed
when he saw the Portuguese man-of-war, which is a creature within the sea and could be
considered as a part of the sea, as Agua mala, the man said. You whore (p.35). In fact,
Ernest Hemingway has used the term Agua mala which is a feminine noun that literally
means bad water in English instead of using the other term, agua mal, which is a masculine
term with the same meaning and has called the creature a whore (Stancov, 2013). The
diction used within the story to refer to the sea accentuates the fact that Hemingway wanted
to express the character, the Sea, as a feminine character. However, as the story continues and
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the sea brings Santiago the challenges and the struggles to his life, the gender of the sea
gradually shifts from the loving and caring feminine sea to the challenging and fierce
masculine sea. This could be well represented by the marlin and the sharks, in which both of
the fishes also could be interpreted as parts of the sea. This idea is confirmed through the
statement, You must keep your head clear. Keep your head clear and know how to suffer
like a man. Or a fish... (p.92). The statement drew an analogy between a man and a fish;
hence, reflects the masculinity of the sea as the fish could be interpreted as a part of the sea.
From the fact that the character, the Sea, was shown to be a multi-gendered character, the
character itself reflects Hemingways uncertainty in gender. Other than the Sea, the other
main character, Santiago or The Old Man in the novella The Old Man and the Sea also
The heroic protagonist, Santiago, or The Old Man from The Old Man and the Sea,
possesses various physical attributes that reflects his stoic and masculine characteristics that
he gained through his hard work such as, The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer
the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea [that] were on his cheeks...and his hands
had the deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish on the cords (pp.9-10). Moreover, the
fact that he refused to be overthrown by the pain and the discomfort he experienced during
the time he is in the midst of the ocean itself is a manifestation to machismo (Valenti, 2002,
p.112). However, there is a physical feature of his that stood out: his eyes. Santiagos eyes
are described as [Santiagos eyes have] ...the same color as the sea and were cheerful and
undefeated (p.10). Although the passage could be interpreted that the inner soul of Santiago
is still young and reflects his dedication in fishing, it could reflect the uncertainty of the
gender of the sea as referred within the story. The analogy of the multi-gendered sea and the
eyes of Santiago reflect the gender uncertainty portrayed by the character itself. Through the
confusion and uncertainty of gender of Ernest Hemingway expressed throughout the story
uncertainty. Within the novella, it could be seen that Santiago is feeling that he is alienated,
not just from the society, but he also feels a sense of alienation from his own body (Bopp,
2016). The alienation of Santiago was expressed through the statement he made to his own
hand, What kind of a hand is that, he said. Cramp then if you want. Make yourself into a
claw. It will do you n good. (p.58). Within the statement, Santiago refers to his hand as
you, treating it as if it is an independent object, not a part of his own body, reflecting the
fact that he feels alienated from his own body. By the alienation of Santiago, the protagonist,
reflected as one of his highlighted physical attributes, his eyes. This adds onto the overall
confusion and uncertainty of gender of Ernest Hemingway expressed throughout the story.
As the title is The Old Man and the Sea, the novella itself is all based on the pairing. The
Old Man is, undoubtedly, representing the masculinity presence within the story while the
Sea provides the femininity to the story. The idea of masculinity and the presence of male
within the story is undoubtedly significant as the society presented within the story is a
patriarchy by itself. However, the female presence within The Old Man and the Sea is very
strong, yet very subtle. In fact, the importance given to the masculine representation,
Santiago, and the feminine representation, the Sea, within The Old Man and the Sea is
equal; hence, the indifference of the two genders within Hemingways perspective could be
seen. This contradicts the fact that Ernest Hemingway is famous for his heroic and extremely
masculine characters such as Nick Adams from The Nick Adams Stories and Jake Barnes
from The Sun Also Rises in which their masculinity is expressed through manly passions and
actions such as fishing and hunting, and the fact that they have to overcome challenges and
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become stronger afterwards (Ernest Hemingway, n.d.). The equal importance given to the
two genders could be easily seen by the two main characters, Santiago and the Sea as stated
previously and the Sun and the moon mentioned within the story. Within The Old Man and
the Sea, whenever the Sun, which is associated with masculinity and the power of male, is
mentioned, the moon, which is associated with femininity and the gentleness of a female
would also be mentioned. For an example, the statement made by Santiago stating that
Imagine if each day a man must try to kill the moon...imagine if a man each day should have
to try and kill the sun... (p.75) and the statement, ...it is good that we do not have to try to
kill the sun or the moon or the stars. (p.75). From the statement within the story, it could be
seen that when the sun is mentioned, the moon is also mentioned. Moreover, the sun and the
moon mentioned would be mentioned similarly. In the first statement, Santiago wonders what
would he do if human needs to kill both the sun and the moon and in the second statement, he
is glad that he would not have to kill either the sun and the moon. The equal in presence of
both of the genders and the indifference in the way the two genders was presented within The
Old Man and the Sea proves the fact that the two genders are equal in importance and
position, in which adds onto the indifferent thought on the two genders, which in turn adds
The alienation of Ernest Hemingway himself in the aspect of gender identity could be
seen as it is portrayed within his great and last novella, The Old Man and the Sea. The main
characters Santiago and the Sea reflect the gender uncertainty within Ernest Hemingways
subconscious mind while the equal in importance of the feminine representative, the Sea, and
the masculine representative, Santiago, accentuates the idea of equality and indifference of
genders in Hemingways perspective, which in turn adds onto the subconscious thoughts
Bopp, L. (2016). Show Him What A Man Can Do: Language of Gender and Attempted
Re-masculinization in The Old Man and the Sea. Retrieved December 7, 2017 from
https://sites.williams.edu/engl-209-fall16/uncategorized/show-him-what-a-man-can-
do-language-of-gender-and-attempted-re-masculinization-in-the-old-man-and-the-sea/
http://www.umich.edu/~eng217/student_projects/nobel%20prize%20winners/heming
way.htm
Stancov, S. (2013). Fishing for a Hero. 2013 Spring Semester. Retrieved 4 December, 2017
s.imsa.edu%2Fspring2013%2F5&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPag
es
Valenti, P. D. (2002). Understanding The Old Man and the Sea: A Student Casebook to
Group.