The Old Man and the Sea

This day in 1951 must have been a relief for Earnest Hemingway. Today is the day that Hemingway finished The Old Man and the Sea. The novel is his last major work of fiction to be produced and published in his lifetime.  Hemingway was still feeling the sting of his last few novels being a "bust".  This book most likely was symbolic of the struggles he had recently been through.  And just like the main character of the story, Santiago, Hemingway persevered and wrote a novel that put him back on top of the literary world.  I first read the novel in high school as an English assignment, then later simply for enjoyment.  I made the book required reading for my boys. They loved it also. 

One of the things that makes the novel so special is that every reader in some way relates to Santiago's life; the struggles, the decisions, the fear of facing an opponent (or obstacles), and hopefully, we find a way to experience some sort of victory, just as Santiago did.

But the best part of the story for me is the ending.  When the old man lies down exhausted in his hut after he conquers the marlin. Santiago dreams a pleasant dream, a dream of  lions at play on the beaches of Africa.  At times, I have wondered about the significance of what these "lion" dreams mean. 

As I make my way into and through mid-life,  I relate more and more to the message I believe Hemmingway is sending.  I believe that the old man associates the lions with his youth, and I think the dream suggests the natural ebb and flow of life. Santiago imagines the lions, the fierce predators that they are, playing on the beach , suggesting the natural struggle of life and death, love and hate, destruction and regeneration that we all go through at some time in our lives.