Hemingway uses imagery of human suffering from the Gospel of Matthew in The Old Man and the Sea in order to argue that society should be based on subjective truths and not on objective truths revealed by Jesus experiences.
Lessons are learned through experiences, and are limited subjective conclusions reached by the individual who goes through that experience. There is no reason to believe that everyone who has a painful experience will draw any conclusion from that experience. The old man initially did not learn anything from his unsuccessful fishing efforts. His fishing trips were eighty-four days now without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy had been with him. But after forty days without a fish the boys parents had told him that the old man was definitely and finally salao.(pg. 1). During the first forty of these eighty-four days, the boy accompanied the old man on his fishing trip. Neither person caught any fish. In the next forty days, the old man fished alone and still did not catch any fish. The old mans lack of fishing success meant he had no food, which caused great suffering. Nonetheless, the old man draws no conclusion or lessons from his experience. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus ventures out into the desert for forty days and forty nights, without any food. During this time, Jesus is tested on three occasions by the Devil, and emerges from the desert as an enlightened prophet of God and begins to preach about God( Mt 4.2-4.11). Hemingway uses the old mans experience as an allusion to Jesus experience to suggest that two people can have similar experiences, and one of those people could draw no lessons from his experience, while another could draw tremendous insight. Hemingway also suggests that not everyone will have the same conclusion in response to suffering. Even when self awareness does result from suffering, there are no universal truths that can be learned because the old man reached a unique conclusion from his suffering. Once the old man thinks about his suffering, he realizes that A man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.(pg. 103). When men are defeated, they give up, are completely lost and lose hope. Alternatively, a man who is destroyed can learn from his mistakes and become a better person. After suffering during his efforts to catch the fish, the old man begins to realize he will not be defeated by his experiences and that he can learn from them. Although the old man initially thinks he will have enough luck to sell the fish at the market, he soon realizes that No, he said. You violated your luck when you went too far outside.(pg.116). When the old man acknowledges his limitations and that he suffered when he tried to exceed them, the old man realizes that he had to stop trying to do everything, he could no longer match his previous accomplishments and he had to slow down and relax more. When the boy pesters him with questions trying to find out what happened to the old man, the old man gives simple answers, and tries to relax. The old man realizes that he has surpassed his limits for the last time. By having the voyage of the old man last three days, Hemingway is alluding to the resurrection of Jesus, which also lasted for three days (Mt. 12.63). After Jesus is resurrected, he commands his disciples to spread his teachings to the rest of the world because Jesus believes his teachings contain universal truths. By having the old man reach a different conclusion from his suffering, Hemingway suggests that different lessons can be reached by different people who have similar experiences. Hemingway posits that because a person suffers in a manner similar to the suffering experienced by Jesus, does not necessarily mean that he or she reach the same conclusion as Jesus. Hemingway suggests that true enlightenment should be based on an individuals experience and not based on another persons experiences. That people must follow their own paths for enlightenment and that there are no universal truths.
People should learn through their own experiences and not by drawing conclusions from an event, or being told what conclusions should be reached from an event. Although people should learn from first hand experiences, sometimes they only see a portion of what happened and make a judgement based solely off of that. When the tourists see only the skeleton of the marlin, they reach simple, but incorrect conclusion. When the fishs skeleton washes on shore and a group of tourists see it they ask Whats that? she asked a waiter and pointed to the long backbone of the great fish that was now just garbage waiting to go out with the tides... I didnt know sharks had such handsome, beautifully formed tails.(pg. 127). When the tourists see the end result of the old mans battle and suffering, they completely misunderstand what happened. Although they did not see what happened, they still reach a conclusion about what took place. Many people reached conclusions and judgements from Jesus conduct, even though they do not know the details of what happened to him. Similar to the tourists, it is possible that people are reaching incorrect conclusions based on incorrect assumptions about what happened. Even though the boy knows the old man best, he is unable to comprehend the old mans suffering because Manolin did not experience it. When the old man returns, Manolin asks him How much did you suffer? Plenty(pg.126). Although the boy is interested in how the old man suffered and thinks if he can understand how much the old man has suffered, he cannot understand what the old man went through. By showing that the boy could not understand the old mans suffering, Hemingway alludes to how people incorrectly understand Jesus suffering and therefore the incorrect conclusions drawn from it. Hemingway suggests that people must reach their own conclusions based on their own suffering. People cannot read about Jesus and become enlightened regarding what is true. When the old man has finally returned home he is Up the road in his shack, [and is] sleeping again. He was still sleeping on his face and the boy was sitting by watching him. The old man was dreaming about the lions.(pg. 127). The image of the lions remind the old man of a more peaceful relaxed period. The old man has responded to his suffering by evidencing a desire to live out his life in a relaxed manner. Jesus responded to his suffering by reaching certain universal truths and concluding that these truths should be taught to others. The boy has a hard time understanding the old mans response to his suffering because he is conditioned to think that suffering will produce universal truths that the old man can relate to him. The boy cannot comprehend when the old man fails to do so. Hemingway rejects a notion of universal truths that result from other individuals experiences. Instead, he suggests that the only subjective truths exists, that are based upon an individuals life and experience. Each individual must reach their own conclusions based on their own experiences
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