Stoic Endurance in Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea

Abstract

The present thesis entitled “Stoic Endurance in Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea” covers the issues of the doctrines of stoicism that stresses the merit of self-control and indifference both in times of pain and pleasure while advocating a staunch detachment from emotions. Hemingway depicts the character of Santiago who is very much detatched from such emotions to get victory in the struggle with marlin and the sharks in the sea. Santiago has possessed the qualities that a stoic man normally has, for example: will, pride, endurance and courage. Because of these indomitable characteristics, Hemingway has presented him as a man of undefeated spirit in The Old Man and the Sea. Hemingway also believes in the fact that pain and pleasure, suffering and misfortune are natural phenomena of the world that one should have to bear on one’s own shoulder without resistance or complaint to the God or anybody else, just like Santiago. During his struggle, Santiago gets strength and encouragement from the recurring dreams of the lions on the beach and injured baseball star, DiMaggio as well as his young companion, a boy named Manolin. These are the sources of inspiration for the old man to prove himself that he was the man of stone at the time of distress. And the old man proved it at last and became triumphant. For the critical analysis and perspectives of my thesis, I have used the very theory of stoicism to look into Santiago’s character. Perspectives drawn from writers such as Zeno of Citium, Cleanthes, Chrysippus, Cicero, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius and Epictetus have been amply referred to, in order to justify the points made. To put it in brief, Santiago himself is an epitome of endurance and stoicism, with a firm conviction that a person’s victory lies not in fighting or complaining against odds but in one’s ability to endure and be neutral.