Interpretation of 'The Old Man and the Sea'

The Old Man and the Sea as an allegory

                     While reading the word ‘allegory’ at that time first I have one question what is an allegory? As per my opinion, allegory means a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning. ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ is an allegory. It denotes upper as well as hidden meaning of the situation in the novella. When the reader reads at that time he feels that the novella presents the struggle of the protagonist against suffering and unknown happenings of life.

                     In our society, the person, who is master in typing the material on computer he uses his artistic skill to prepare perfect presentation. This simply means that the person is well-skilled about typing and he can make best presentation. If I take the hidden meaning, the person is knowledgeable but to make best presentation he struggles against his skill. He controls his art because he fears for defeat in the life likewise in the novella, Santiago (old man) who is well-skilled person for fishing. He tries his best to catch the Marlin. At one side he uses his power but another side; he struggles against all opposition and dangers to achieve success. Santiago declares,

“But Man is not made for defeat; a man can be destroyed but not defeated.”

That simply means, Santiago while catching the Marlin he controls his own art because he is worried about his failure as his experiences of the past.

                   So, in my conclusion I can say that “The Old Man and The Sea” is an allegory because the skill of Santiago turns ‘struggle’ for him. The skill and struggle both words conveys the meaning of allegory for this novella.