SEA, SURVIVAL, AND THE LIMITS OF EXTRACTION: A SUSTAINABLE READING OF HEMINGWAY’S THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA

Abstract

This paper examines how Ernest Hemingway’s novella dramatizes the moral limits of human interaction with nature by analyzing it through an eco-critical and sustainability focused lens. The novella portrays the ocean as an active ecological presence whose rhythms, generosity, and fragility determine the conditions of survival, even though it is typically read as a story of individual bravery and tenacity. Santiago’s unrelenting quest for the marlin represents both the moral cost of going beyond ecological boundaries and human reliance on natural resources. In addition to serving as a tragic irony, his eventual loss of the fish to the sharks serves as a metaphor for the results of over-extraction and an unsustainable relationship in which mastery and conquest take the place of reciprocity and respect.