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The Old Man and the Sea: Mirror of Hemingways Gender Uncertainty

The Old Man and the Sea is a short, one chapter novel written in 1951 by the

Modernist writer Ernest Hemingway in dedication to his deceased friends: Charlie Scribner

and Max Perkins. The story reveals the struggle between an old fisherman named Santiago,

who is the protagonist of the story with the marlin and sharks, in which both of the fishes are

considered as the antagonist of the story. Although the story revolves around a mans life and

presents the conventional patriarchal society, some parts of the story reflect the uncertainty of

gender through the characters. Within The Old Man and the Sea, the uncertainty of gender

reflected from Hemingways subconscious mind was illustrated through the two main

characters: the Sea' and Santiago, and the equal importance given to female and male.

Through characterization by using gendered language, the character the Sea in the

novella The Old Man and the Sea, is deemed to be both male and female. The sea, which

could be considered as both the setting and another main character of the novella, was

deemed to be a male by the young fishermen as it is stated that, Some of the younger

fishermen, those who used buoys as floats for their lines and had motorboats...spoke of her as

el mar which is masculine (pp. 29-30). Santiago, on the other hand, always refer to the sea

as a female as he has stated that, He always thought of the sea as la mar which is what

people call her in Spanish when they love her (p.29). Other than that, Santiago has cursed

when he saw the Portuguese man-of-war, which is a creature within the sea and could be

considered as a part of the sea, as Agua mala, the man said. You whore (p.35). In fact,

Ernest Hemingway has used the term Agua mala which is a feminine noun that literally

means bad water in English instead of using the other term, agua mal, which is a masculine

term with the same meaning and has called the creature a whore (Stancov, 2013). The

diction used within the story to refer to the sea accentuates the fact that Hemingway wanted

to express the character, the Sea, as a feminine character. However, as the story continues and
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the sea brings Santiago the challenges and the struggles to his life, the gender of the sea

gradually shifts from the loving and caring feminine sea to the challenging and fierce

masculine sea. This could be well represented by the marlin and the sharks, in which both of

the fishes also could be interpreted as parts of the sea. This idea is confirmed through the

statement, You must keep your head clear. Keep your head clear and know how to suffer

like a man. Or a fish... (p.92). The statement drew an analogy between a man and a fish;

hence, reflects the masculinity of the sea as the fish could be interpreted as a part of the sea.

From the fact that the character, the Sea, was shown to be a multi-gendered character, the

character itself reflects Hemingways uncertainty in gender. Other than the Sea, the other

main character, Santiago or The Old Man in the novella The Old Man and the Sea also

mirrors the gender uncertainty in Hemingways subconscious mind.

The heroic protagonist, Santiago, or The Old Man from The Old Man and the Sea,

possesses various physical attributes that reflects his stoic and masculine characteristics that

he gained through his hard work such as, The brown blotches of the benevolent skin cancer

the sun brings from its reflection on the tropic sea [that] were on his cheeks...and his hands

had the deep-creased scars from handling heavy fish on the cords (pp.9-10). Moreover, the

fact that he refused to be overthrown by the pain and the discomfort he experienced during

the time he is in the midst of the ocean itself is a manifestation to machismo (Valenti, 2002,

p.112). However, there is a physical feature of his that stood out: his eyes. Santiagos eyes

are described as [Santiagos eyes have] ...the same color as the sea and were cheerful and

undefeated (p.10). Although the passage could be interpreted that the inner soul of Santiago

is still young and reflects his dedication in fishing, it could reflect the uncertainty of the

gender of the sea as referred within the story. The analogy of the multi-gendered sea and the

eyes of Santiago reflect the gender uncertainty portrayed by the character itself. Through the

alienation of Santiago, who is the protagonist, in which he pursues the thought of

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generalizing himself as both masculine as the marlin and feminine as the sea, the overall

confusion and uncertainty of gender of Ernest Hemingway expressed throughout the story

was accentuated. Moreover, Santiagos feeling of alienation emphasizes the gender

uncertainty. Within the novella, it could be seen that Santiago is feeling that he is alienated,

not just from the society, but he also feels a sense of alienation from his own body (Bopp,

2016). The alienation of Santiago was expressed through the statement he made to his own

hand, What kind of a hand is that, he said. Cramp then if you want. Make yourself into a

claw. It will do you n good. (p.58). Within the statement, Santiago refers to his hand as

you, treating it as if it is an independent object, not a part of his own body, reflecting the

fact that he feels alienated from his own body. By the alienation of Santiago, the protagonist,

he pursues the thought of generalizing himself as both masculine and feminine as it is

reflected as one of his highlighted physical attributes, his eyes. This adds onto the overall

confusion and uncertainty of gender of Ernest Hemingway expressed throughout the story.

As the title is The Old Man and the Sea, the novella itself is all based on the pairing. The

Old Man is, undoubtedly, representing the masculinity presence within the story while the

Sea provides the femininity to the story. The idea of masculinity and the presence of male

within the story is undoubtedly significant as the society presented within the story is a

patriarchy by itself. However, the female presence within The Old Man and the Sea is very

strong, yet very subtle. In fact, the importance given to the masculine representation,

Santiago, and the feminine representation, the Sea, within The Old Man and the Sea is

equal; hence, the indifference of the two genders within Hemingways perspective could be

seen. This contradicts the fact that Ernest Hemingway is famous for his heroic and extremely

masculine characters such as Nick Adams from The Nick Adams Stories and Jake Barnes

from The Sun Also Rises in which their masculinity is expressed through manly passions and

actions such as fishing and hunting, and the fact that they have to overcome challenges and
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become stronger afterwards (Ernest Hemingway, n.d.). The equal importance given to the

two genders could be easily seen by the two main characters, Santiago and the Sea as stated

previously and the Sun and the moon mentioned within the story. Within The Old Man and

the Sea, whenever the Sun, which is associated with masculinity and the power of male, is

mentioned, the moon, which is associated with femininity and the gentleness of a female

would also be mentioned. For an example, the statement made by Santiago stating that

Imagine if each day a man must try to kill the moon...imagine if a man each day should have

to try and kill the sun... (p.75) and the statement, ...it is good that we do not have to try to

kill the sun or the moon or the stars. (p.75). From the statement within the story, it could be

seen that when the sun is mentioned, the moon is also mentioned. Moreover, the sun and the

moon mentioned would be mentioned similarly. In the first statement, Santiago wonders what

would he do if human needs to kill both the sun and the moon and in the second statement, he

is glad that he would not have to kill either the sun and the moon. The equal in presence of

both of the genders and the indifference in the way the two genders was presented within The

Old Man and the Sea proves the fact that the two genders are equal in importance and

position, in which adds onto the indifferent thought on the two genders, which in turn adds

onto the idea of gender uncertainty within Ernest Hemingways mind.

The alienation of Ernest Hemingway himself in the aspect of gender identity could be

seen as it is portrayed within his great and last novella, The Old Man and the Sea. The main

characters Santiago and the Sea reflect the gender uncertainty within Ernest Hemingways

subconscious mind while the equal in importance of the feminine representative, the Sea, and

the masculine representative, Santiago, accentuates the idea of equality and indifference of

genders in Hemingways perspective, which in turn adds onto the subconscious thoughts

about the uncertainty of gender of his.

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References

Bopp, L. (2016). Show Him What A Man Can Do: Language of Gender and Attempted

Re-masculinization in The Old Man and the Sea. Retrieved December 7, 2017 from

https://sites.williams.edu/engl-209-fall16/uncategorized/show-him-what-a-man-can-

do-language-of-gender-and-attempted-re-masculinization-in-the-old-man-and-the-sea/

Ernest Hemingway. (n.d.). Retrieved 3 December, 2017 from

http://www.umich.edu/~eng217/student_projects/nobel%20prize%20winners/heming

way.htm

Stancov, S. (2013). Fishing for a Hero. 2013 Spring Semester. Retrieved 4 December, 2017

from http://digitalcommons.imsa.edu/spring2013/5/?utm _source=digital common

s.imsa.edu%2Fspring2013%2F5&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPag

es

Valenti, P. D. (2002). Understanding The Old Man and the Sea: A Student Casebook to

Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing

Group.