Hemingway's Organic Symbolism In "The Old Man and the Sea"

Ernest Hemingway's novella "The Old Man and the Sea" is considered to be his last, and often his greatest, literary work. The short novel, which is comprised of less than one hundred pages, recounts the trials of an elderly Cuban fisherman who is thrust into an exhausting life-or-death struggle of wills when he hooks an unmatchable marlin. When questioned about the presence of symbols in the novel, Hemingway maintained that any symbolism present was unintended. …

…to make everything in the story real with the expectation that doing so might allow the main themes to suggest a multitude of meanings. Organic allegory or otherwise, "The Old Man and the Sea" remains one of the great symbolic literary pieces of our time. The simplistic, honest style of Hemingway's prose reads like the very tips of vast icebergs afloat on every page; there is always more behind, if only you care to look.