The Old Man and the Sea, as Hemingway’s peak work, has been interpreted from the perspectives of heroism, symbolism or metaphorical interpretation, but Santiago’s “oldness” has been rarely studied even neglected. Under the framework of Age Studies, this thesis focuses on the “decline narrative” in this novella to reveal the triple decline: Santiago’s aging body, Hemingway’s waning writing talent, and Spain’s fading empire power. The intertwining decline narratives deconstruct the story of a “tough guy” presented on the surface of the short novel by Hemingway, exposing the facts of ageism, creation anxiety, and the iterative renewal of the empire.
Cite this paper
Pang, C. (2026). The Triple Decline Narrative in The Old Man and the Sea. Open Access Library Journal, 13, e15635. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1115635.
Wohlmann, A. (2025) A Real Old Man: Aging Masculinity and Late-Life Creativity in Ernest Hemingway’s the Old Man and the Sea. <i>Journal of Aging Studies</i>, 74, Article ID: 101356. <br>https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaging.2025.101356
Herlihy, J. (2009) “Eyes the Same Color as the Sea”: Santiago’s Expatriation from Spain and Ethnic Otherness in Hemingway’s the Old Man and the Sea. <i>The Hemingway </i><i>Review</i>, 28, 25-44. <br>https://doi.org/10.1353/hem.0.0030
Melling, P.H. (2006) Cultural Imperialism, Afro-Cuban Religion, and Santiago’s Failure in the Old Man and the Sea. <i>The Hemingway Review</i>, 26, 6-24. <br>https://doi.org/10.1353/hem.2006.0050
