The Old Man and the Sea: Relations to the Jesus and the Crucifixion

In the novel The Old Man and the Sea, there are many situations in which Santiago can be linked to Jesus Christ. In my opinion, Hemingway wanted to give a deeper meaning to this seemingly boring story, and to me, he accomplished this. One instance where Santiago is linked to Christ is when his palms are first cut by the fishing line which was snagged by the marlin. When Jesus was being crucified, his hands were nailed to the cross through the palms. The two instances are clearly directly related. I do not think this is so much of a stigma as much as it is a coincidence to Santiago. However, later in the story when the sharks first swarm the boat, Hemingway says that Santiago makes a noise similar to that of a man having nails driven through his hands. That is no coincidence. Hemingway was obviously linking the two occurrences. Another relation between the two men comes toward the end of the novel when Santiago is struggling to walk up the hill while carrying his supplies, which includes his ship’s mast. This instance is basically a recreation of the Stations of the Cross during Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus carried a large wooden cross up a hill, and Santiago carries an eerily similar large wooden ship’s mast up a hill to his shack where it is unclear if he dies or not. This is a very vivid point in the writing because the reader can actually imagine Santiago carrying the mast because subconsciously, they think of Jesus’ crucifixion. Along with the physical relationships, Hemingway brings the two stories’ themes together. Even though Jesus was crucified and died, he was resurrected and began a new and better life in Heaven. Something similar happens to Santiago in that even though he was not able to reel the marlin in, he gained the respect of the village by proving its existence. I rather enjoyed Hemingway’s usage of similarities between Santiago and Christ because it brought a deep and spiritual meaning to the book.