One thing that can be learned from the novella is that pride can motivate men to greatness. This is illustrated all throughout the book and especially during the old man's fight with the great fish.
The old man had not caught any fish for eighty-five days, yet he still went out everyday and tried to catch one. Why he did not give up was because of his pride. The definition of pride is "a becoming or dignified sense of what is due to oneself or one's position or character; self respect, self esteem" The man thought that it was due to himself to keep trying to catch more fish.
When the man finally had a fish hooked, it was so big that he could not pull it in. The man had to hold his ground and wait for the fish to become tired and weak. While the man waited for the fish, it took much strength out of the man. Most men would not keep trying. Many people would give in when they got tired, hungry, weak, and hurt. But not this old man. He kept fighting. Why did he keep fighting, you may ask. Well he kept fighting because of his pride. He could not let the fish go because he wanted it so much and it would hurt him and make him think lesser of himself if he did not keep fighting. He even guarded his pride so much that he decided he was going to keep fighting until the death- either of him or the fish.
Sometimes pride can be a very bad thing, but in the old man's case I think it proved good. If it were not for the man's pride, he would not have caught the fish. He would have given up on the fish and let it win. Honestly, if it weren't for his pride he most likely would have never caught the fish in the first place because he would not be so far out in the sea. The man would not have conquered that fish had he not had his pride, and if he had not conquered that fish and given up, he would have lost his entire sense of pride and who he was as a man. And that is something very hard for a man to recover from.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1996. Print.
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