Milly Pnotporn Jantarakolica 1

Mr. Matthew Bishop

English 12
December 7, 2017

Psychoanalytic Theory Upon The Old Man and the Sea

Ernest Hemingway, a Nobel Prize winner, is well known for various of his novels. He

was born on July 21, 1899 in Illinois. He had an interest in writing career since young and had

contributed to his school newspaper. Not only was he talented in writing, but he had also

served as an ambulance driver during World War I. From this, he was injured and it may lead

to him having to cope with depression. Sadly, he had committed suicide on July 2, 1961 in

Idaho. The Old Man and the Sea is widely known as one of his most famous book which had

won the Pulitzer award (Biography.com Editors, 2017). An assumption could be made that his

novels contain deep and meaningful content because of what he had experienced. The Old

Man and the Sea portrays psychoanalytic theory, which describes humans thoughts,

behaviors, and actions. Psychoanalytic theory is composed of three features: id, ego, and

superego. Id is the unconscious part of humans wants and desires. On the contrary, superego

is the ethical or moral part of a human in terms of what the society has taught an individual.

While ego is the compromise between id and superego (Siegfried, 2014). In this novel, the

repetitive failures that Santiago had faced causes him to alternates progresses his id, superego,

and ego.

Santiagos failures had caused him to display his id, composing of his wants and

desires. Despite the fact that Santiago had already caught various of small fishes, he still

strives to catch a bigger fish. In the novel, it can be seen that Santiago had been called a

salao meaning that he is a very unlucky person. He had spent eighty-seven days without fish

and from that he was looked down by other fishermen. That is probably the cause to his id. In

the novel, it quotes But remember how you went eighty-seven days without fish and then we

caught big ones every day for three weeks (p.10). This shows that he is desperate to get a

larger fish; even though, he has spent a very long period of time and was not successful in
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catching one. In addition, he also mentioned Albacore, he said aloud. Hell make a

beautiful bait. Hell weigh ten pounds (p.39), demonstrating that he had already caught a

tuna fish, but his id makes him feel greedy, wanting to catch a larger fish which in this case is

the marlin. Aside from trying to catch a huge fish which he is not capable of doing, he tries to

controls the oceans urge for violent. For example, when Hemingway describes how Santiago

copes with the sea, it says, He was rowing steadily and it was no effort for him since he kept

well within his speed and the surface of the ocean was flat except for the occasional swirls of

the current (p.30). Therefore, it can be determined that his id wants to control the rate in

which his boat is moving (Kurniati, 2014). All of these conflicts that he had went through with

his id results from his unconscious mind.

On the contrary to responding his difficulty with id, Santiago also deals them with

superego, which allows him to reconsiders all of his actions. His guilt emerges when he

realizes that him killing the marlin is unethical. This may be due to the fact that he reflects on

his actions after the shark ate all of his marlin. Hemingway writes, I wish it had been a

dream now and that I had never hooked the fish and was alone in bed on the newspapers.

I am sorry that I killed the fish though, he thought (p.103). Perhaps, he recognizes how the

fish is similar to him, feeling desperate and having no options. Perceiving how the fish feels,

he is able comprehend that he is back to his starting point with no fish since the sharks ate

them all, making him feel sorry for it. He adds that You did not kill the fish only to keep

alive and to sell for food, he thought. You killed him for pride and because you are a

fisherman (p.105). At this point, he understands that he did not fish for his survival, but to

prove himself to the society that he can also become a successful fisherman (Kurniati, 2014).

Although Santiago uses his id to solve some of his troubles, deep down inside he has the

superego that allows him to reflect on what he does and feel guilty about what he have done.
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Throughout the novel, Santiago starts to find ways to compromise between his id and

superego; thus, he develops his ego. He starts to feel pity for the marlin; however, his ego

allows him to acknowledge the importance of him fishing in order to survive. The fact that he

is in a poor family and does not have much money, may influence him to struggle with his

profession, being a fisherman. I wish I could feed the fish, he thought. He is my brother. But

I must kill him and keep strong to do it (p.59), a statement said by Santiago, shows that he

feels pity for the fish; yet, he realizes the fact that he has to fish in order to survive in the

society economic stainability. This shows the ego in which it balances what he wants with the

reality in what he should be doing. This may also relate to the time when he thought of a pair

of marlin. The male fish always let the female fish feed first and the hooked fish, the female,

made a wild, panic-stricken, despairing fight that soon exhausted her, and all the time the male

had stayed with her, crossing the line and circling with her on the surface (p.49). It may cause

him to feel sorry for them because he has to separate both of them from one another; anyhow,

he still fishes the marlin (Momtazi, n.d.). Although Santiago has the feeling of guilt in fishing,

he admits and accepts the fact that he is born a fisherman continues to live with his career.

Psychoanalytic theory has been displayed in through Santiagos failures in The Old

Man and the Sea with three aspects: id, superego, and ego. Throughout the novel, Santiago

had dealt with his problems through his id and superego. His id focuses on killing the marlin

and controlling the sea. On the other hand, his superego emphasizes on how immoral it is for

him to kill the fish. However, towards the end of the novel, he somewhat resolves and balance

these two qualities, forming his ego.

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References

Biography.com Editors. (n.d.) Ernest Hemingway Biography.com. Retrieved December 6,

2017 from https://www.biography.com/people/ernest-hemingway-9334498

Kurniati, A. (2014). Between Despair and Spirit of Life Reflected in Ernest Hemingways The

Old Man and the Sea (1952): A Psychoanalytic Criticism. School of Teacher and

Education Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta 2014.

Makov, L. (2011). The interpretation of Hemingways The Old Man and the Sea. Brno:

Masaryk University in Brno.

Momtazi, S. (n.d.). Destroyed but not defeated: Hemingways The Old Man and the Sea: A

psychotherapeutic story. Zanjan: Zanjan Medical University.

Siegfried, W. (2014). The Formation and Structure of Human Psyche. Athene Noctua:

Undergraduate Philosophy Journal, Issue 2, pp. 1-3