never give up

Never give up

Have you ever given up and looked back on that time, knowing you could’ve done better? A lot of people in our society just give up on something and never strive for the best. In the novella The Old Man in the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway, the author portrays a main theme: never give up. Santiago (the old man) follows this theme throughout the story. He doesn’t give up catching the marlin even though the odds are against him, he has to take on a bunch of sharks, and in the beginning he mentions that he thinks every day will be lucky.

Santiago never gives up in catching the marlin. In one point of novella, he realizes that the fish is bringing him farther away from shore. He knows that this will be the biggest catch of his life so he doesn’t let the fish go. He also knows that all the odds are against him because he is an old man against a huge fish. He wastes three days of going after that one fish. “Let him begin to circle and let the fight come” (86). Even when sharks swim up to the skiff, he keeps at it and never gives up.

In the middle of the novella a bunch of different kinds of sharks come and eat the flesh off the marlin. Santiago doesn’t want his prize fish to be worth nothing because of sharks breaking off chunks of fish. So he tries beating them with his oars and one harpoon that he has. He knows that he will get fatigued eventually but he still bashes them for a long period of time. “The old man withdrew the blade and punched the shark exactly in the same spot again” (107). The old man has always thought he was lucky even thought everyone else doubted him.

Right from the beginning of the book he thinks that everyday will be lucky. He hasn’t caught anything that will actually help him in 40 days, but keeps trying and striving for the best. Finally, it was his lucky day with a huge fish. Everyday he gave himself motivation and kept his morale. He wanted to do the thing that he loves and the activity that he lives for. “The old man was now definitely and finally salao, which is the worst form of unlucky” (9). The old man is very determined throughout the novella.

Ernest Hemingway’s theme, never give up is something that we should all listen to and follow. It will make all our lives much easier and we can appreciate life more. This matters because everything we do involves something that we will have to decide when we stop striving and working. Whether its applying for college or playing in a game, we have to strive for the best just like Santiago. In conclusion, Ernest Hemingway portrays a theme in his book The Old Man and the Sea which we should all use. We should never give up in life because we only have one try to get it right.