Literary Devices of Hemingway in the Old Man and the Sea

A detailed Summary of Literary Devices of Hemingway in the Old Man and the Sea


Hemingway writes The Old Man and the Sea in a most interesting manner. His language is simple yet he creates an artfully designed plot. Within the story of an old man who goes out to sea to capture a large fish, Hemingway expresses the plot through the usage of narrative voice, symbolism, and personification. These literary devices are woven into the novella to complete a story which could not have been titled a classic unless these writing styles were used accordingly.

Alone in his boat, the old man Santiago gently rowed out towards the immense ocean. The omniscient narrative draws close to Santiago's thoughts. Hemingway enters his lines with increasing regularity. "Perhaps I should not have been a fisherman, he thought. But that was the thing that I was born for (50)." The blending of narratives is usually indicated customarily, with such as "he thought" or with "he said" and the quotation marks around what Santiago actually speaks aloud. At other times, the narrative drifts almost unnoticeably into Santiago's thoughts where the quotation marks around whatever Santiago speaks aloud to himself eventually disap


When Santiago comes home from a rugged day of fishing, he would expire on his rickety, newspaper-covered bed and dream of beautiful dreams. The aged fisherman slept of "Africa when he was a boy and the long golden beaches... (24)." Santiago never dreamed of people or tremendous occurrences, he "only dreamed of places now and the lions on the beach... [who] played like young cats in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy (25)." The young cubs symbolize Santiago's remarkable traits of courage, strength, and dignity. These are the attributes in which he holds dear and close to his heart. These same qualities he wishes to bequeath to his beloved Manolin, the only person left who keeps a place in his dying heart. In his dreams, the lions are young and frolicking on the scenic beach, thus indicating a semblance with youthfulness and immortality. Throughout Santiago's life, he has lived alone and extremely lonely, but he will not die alone. He will pass on his youthful memories and heroic traits onto Manolin for the only immortality is what the old leaves the young.

Hemingway keeps the character Santiago as t

Some common words found in the essay are:
Throughout Santiago's, Santiago's Hemingway, , quotation marks, speaks aloud, santiago's life, writing styles, narrative voice,

Approximate Word count = 760
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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