Old Man and the Sea

The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway, is a great work of literature. I found this book to be a good reading for a course such as "The Common Course"; it is an excellent example of humanity. Hemingway uses this novel as a symbol of the human condition: the struggle to survive and maintain one's dignity in a cruel and heartless world. While reading this novel, I felt sorry for Santiago, yet at …

…to travel dangerously far out into the sea in the first place. Sometimes pride can be a dangerous quality. The old man could have lost his life at sea. Pride could have cost Santiago his life, yet it gained him the view of a hero in the eyes of the villagers. Santiago returned to port with only the remains of the marlin; he received no monetary profit, but gained the respect of his fellow fishermen.