Though his writing style is not to my taste, the religious symbolism that Ernest Hemingway embroidered within the weave of his classic The Old Man and the Sea is brilliant as a chalice and thus worthy of attention. References to religion abounded throughout the book, or maybe they just jumped out at me since I was fed religious theology practically from the womb! Among the vast number of allusions to religion in this story, three such instances lingered in my mind long after I closed the book: Hemingway's use of bondage, wood, and nails in his boat scenes, Santiago's homecoming, and the way that sin is mentioned in the storyline.

One of the more prevailing images that sticks in my mind is that of the way Santiago behaved while in his boat. Hemingway wrote, "...perhaps it is a noise such as a man would make, involuntarily, feeling the nail go through his hands and into the wood." (107) In the sharp image that this sentence provoked, I saw Christ's hands being nailed to the cross, swift and raw and. Bloody. Santiago also lashed himself to the boat, a captive prisoner in his own right, bleeding from the forehead, as Christ did with his crown of thorns. Clearly, Hemingway is comparing the Crucifixion of Christ with that of the trials and tribulations that Santiago suffers.

The second allusion to religion that screamed for my attention was in the final chapter when Santiago carries the mast, i.e. the cross, up to his home. Along the way, recalling Christ's stations of the cross, Santiago fell several times and "started to climb again and at the top he fell and lay for some time with the mast across his shoulder. He tried to get up. But it was too difficult." (121) Finally collapsing on his bed, depleted and vulnerable after his long and ardous journey, Santiago lay "face down on the newspapers with his arms out straight and the palms of his hands up" (122). A very Christ-like image, to be sure.

A last religious reference woven into the story is Hemingway's concept of sin, and who is deserving of it. Santiago spoke of God highly and of sin often. After killing the marlin, Santiago said, "Perhaps it was a sin to kill the fish. I suppose it was even though I did it to keep alive and feed many people….if you love him, it is not a sin to kill him. Or is it more?" (105). Hemingway seems to be saying that sin is negotiable, that the punishment of a sin depends on the nature behind the crime. When Santiago kills the marlin, he was doing so to be nourished, to survive. When he killed the sharks, he did so in self-defense, also to survive. He excused himself, trying to absolve himself of sin, though he protests not to care about sin, not to understand the concept...even though it scared him inside. Though the major theme of the story is obviously about valor and heroism, (and perhaps an arrogant autobiography of sorts on Hemingway's part), it also shows that any man can be cowed by deity, by the thought of retribution after death.

Upon reflection of this book I think of Santiago, a strong man who accepted his death yet strove to live through to the end of his journey. I think of another man, simplistic and strong-willed, idolized by some yet shunned by others. Also, like Christ, Santiago was ready to die for his survival and had accepted that his end was near. Both men suffered enormously in different ways, were destroyed in different ways, but both attained redemption of sorts- Christ, by heroically fulfilling his destiny in death, and Santiago, by heroically coming home with Tiburon in tow and alive. Christ died and Santiago lived, but both lived on in their own ways…neither defeated. As Hemingway wrote, "A man can be destroyed but not defeated" (103).