Ernest Hemingway
Il Vecchio E Il Mare

The boat is small and the sea is vast. The man is alone, and so is the sea. What happens if an old man dares to face the ocean?

The old man has been doing it for years. He has done it his whole life; it is his life, his duty to challenge the ocean. For eighty-four days he loses his battle. If only he had young Manolo by his side! But Santiago is alone, alone against the depths... alone against what he loves. Yes, the old man loves the water, but he does not fear it, he respects it, and knows how tough the battle is. Alone, against the sea!

How can he win? But a man "can be destroyed, but not defeated". So on the eighty-fifth day, the old man's victory begins, the paradox begins. He admires, loves, venerates what kills him, he talks to it, he talks to the father, the majestic Ocean, and listens to its answers. The love for nature transforms into its obligatory killing, yet victory transforms, in turn, into defeat. The old man loses and accepts it. He accepts the sea's revenge, the defeat of human power.

And what can a man, a boat do against tonnes and tonnes of water, of life? The old man knows it is his duty to fish, perceives the paradox, but knows his destiny has always been that way. Nothing can change. He is old, he is tired, almost demotivated, and the ocean offers him a chance for redemption. He seizes it and wins. The thought that it might be a trap doesn't even occur to him. Perhaps he believes it is compensation for nearly three months of serene defeats, who knows? The old man is alone on the boat, yet he talks, talks, listens, and responds. Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts... he is a lonely man. The sea keeps company, it dialogues indeed, but the old man misses a work companion. He suffers from it, but accepts his condition.

The old man on the sea thinks, thinks and grasps the paradox of his situation, even of the human condition, and understands the reasons of the sea, those reasons that lead it to take back what the old man has taken from it. And Santiago is not angered by this, he accepts it, it's his defeat after victory. It is the victory-defeat of the man who fights, who does not surrender.