The two different types of sharks provide two distinct symbols for Santiago and Hemingway. To the protagonist Santiago, the shovel-heads are unworthy creatures, but the Mako symbolizes death, which Santiago knows he is close to facing. The shovel-heads, to Hemingway, symbolize literary critics.
What do the sharks symbolize?
Shark symbolizes authority, curiosity, efficiency, connection, guardianship, innovation, knowledge, mystery, observation, power, perception, protection, superiority, movement, and self-defense.
What are the symbols used in the Old Man and the Sea?
While individual symbols are: “The old man or Santiago” symbolizes the Optimist; “the boy or Manolin” symbolizes hope; “Joe Di Maggio” symbolizes strong Desire; “harpoon” Symbolizes skill, “bird” symbolizes help; “shark” symbolizes destructor; “Marlin” Symbolizes struggle.
How does Santiago feel about the sharks?
He feels no pride in killing the shovel-nosed sharks, which he considers dirty scavengers. The marlin is now drained of blood and completely silver in color. Santiago wishes that he had not killed the marlin, and apologizes to the marlin for having gone out so far from land.
What does the old man do when he sees the shark?
Except for its jaws full of talonlike teeth, the shark is a beautiful fish. When the shark hits the marlin, the old man sinks his harpoon into the shark’s head. The shark lashes on the water and, eventually, sinks, taking the harpoon and the old man’s rope with it.
What do the Lions symbolize in the Old Man and the Sea?
Santiago dreams of lions, which symbolize youth, strength, and virility. Santiago is happy when he dreams of his youth, even in the midst of feeling his advanced age through a weakened body.
What does calling someone a shark mean?
1 : a rapacious crafty person who takes advantage of others often through usury, extortion, or devious means loan sharks. 2 : one who excels greatly especially in a particular field.
What is the main message of The Old Man and the Sea?
A man continues to do whatever he must do to the best of his ability, no matter what tribulations befall him. While challenges and setbacks can strip a man of all outward signs of success, still his spirit can remain undefeated.
What is the main theme of The Old Man and the Sea?
Endurance is a running theme throughout Ernest Hemingway’s novel, The Old Man and the Sea. Santiago, the protagonist, displays remarkable physical and mental endurance. He endures the long stretches without fish. Partly he does this out of necessity, since fishing is his life.
What do the turtles symbolize in The Old Man and the Sea?
Turtles are representative of Santiago in appearance and in personality, since they both have tough and calloused exteriors but are vulnerable once they have opened up. In addition, both of them do what they must to stay strong and survive, and stay determined to go on when life is rough.
How many sharks did Santiago killed in the Old Man and the Sea?
Santiago berates himself for having gone out too far. He kills a great mako shark with his harpoon but loses the weapon. He makes a spear by strapping his knife to the end of an oar. He kills three more sharks before the blade of the knife snaps, and he clubs two more sharks into submission.
What does Santiago do to the first shark?
The first shark was a Mako, a Dentuso, and Santiago manages to harpoon and kill the shark, but not before the shark tears 40 pounds of meat from the fish. Additionally, the shark sinks away and dies with the harpoon still lodged in its head, so Santiago loses the harpoon as well.
What happened to the fish that Santiago kills?
Sharks are drawn to the tethered marlin, and, although Santiago manages to kill a few, the sharks eat the fish, leaving behind only its skeleton.
What is the saddest thing the old man has ever seen?
Santiago still recalls the male marlin’s beauty and how the whole incident was the saddest thing he ever saw.
Why does Santiago want the fish to jump?
Santiago hopes that the fish will jump, because its air sacs would fill and prevent the fish from going too deep into the water, which would make it easier to pull out.
What happens at the end of Old man and the sea?
The Old Man and the Sea ends with Santiago sleeping peacefully, having read over the baseball scores, and dreaming about the lions playing on the African beaches.
What does the marlin symbolize?
The marlin is a symbol for Christ and Communion, the symbolic ritual of The Last Supper.
What does Joe Di Maggio symbolize?
Joe DiMaggio is a multifaceted figure throughout Hemingway’s novella. He is a divinely inspirational religious figure for Santiago. He is a foreign body that represents capitalist success. He is a hope for real change after the repressive regime brought about by the previous Spanish colonizers.
What does Dentuso mean?
dentuso (Spanish) big-toothed; (in Cuba) a particularly voracious and frightening species of shark with rows of large, sharp teeth; here, a descriptive term for the mako shark.
What is a synonym for shark?
(or sharpy), skinner, swindler, tricker, trickster.
What does a shark tattoo mean?
Shark Tattoo Meaning
In particular, traditional shark tattoos have been representing protection, courage, guidance, etc. Shark tattoos represented protection against enemies in Polynesian cultures. They also represented protection for seamen and the dangers of the deep waters.