"The Old Man and The Sea": From A Gerotranscendence Approach

Abstract

The Old Man and The Sea is a novella written by Ernest Hemingway that depicts an old fisherman’ journey out into the deep sea in his pursuit to catch a big fish. The protagonist, Santiago is portrayed as an old man who has endured  pain and struggles to bring back to shore. Looking through the lens of gerotranscendence, it manifested the dreams of an old man in his pursuit for happiness as he fought tirelessly to ward off the shark attacks. This paper explores Hemingway’s portrayal of Santiago as an old man as a transcendent self leaping from the dimension of “The Self” to the cosmic dimension with the personal and social relationship dimension in tow. The Old Man and The Sea offers a glimpse of the struggles of an old man, who is old and gaunt but surprisingly strong and powerful despite his old age. He can endure suffering and is focussed on achieving his goals. This is what Hemingway has portrayed Santiago to be a gerotranscendent in the eyes of the gerotranscendental approach in respect of the changes and development as seen in Santiago, the protagonist in this novella.