It is morning, one hundred and fourteen million years ago. The sun has just risen, and the world is bathed in color and aroma. Only a perceiving consciousness was missing for it to exist… this was the divine creation—man, woven from experiences that conceal the world. In this tale of nature’s thunderous cry, of man’s battle with the clotting of time, comes the final fish—not the only fish, but one among many—asking him, “Who were you in this world?”
Man is nothing more than what he creates of himself, of his existence. Forced to live in a desert of awareness concerning his destiny, the feeling of meaninglessness gives rise to anxiety and loneliness in the face of earthly limitations, and a desire to clothe experience with meaning by acting upon the world. He possesses the ability to transcend material limitations, unlike other living beings who cannot evolve through free will. Free will illuminates the path for man, who is already the creator of values, driven by an evolutionary force that transcends natural laws. He cultivates the world himself, utilizing freedom as the essence and tool for personal identity.
The Old Man and the Sea reveals before us the image of a man bowed before time, yet endowed with Christian virtue. Often regarded as an incarnation of Jesus Christ due to his suffering and resilience, Santiago exhibits certain qualities of mind and heart borne by the Son of God. “He was too simple to wonder when he had attained humility. But he knew he had attained it and he knew that it was not disgraceful and carried no loss of true pride” (Hemingway, 1970). The Christian symbolism used by Hemingway is very subtle and beautiful. Santiago’s wounded palm from which blood flows, his expression of agony when he sees the sharks, and his stumbling under the weight of the mast as he climbs the hill to reach his home all compose the portrait of suffering.
According to Nietzsche, Christianity enslaves natural free morality and encourages subservience instead of the strength required to master oneself and engage in a constant struggle of the will. Relying on Nietzsche’s philosophical ideals, Santiago is the Overman (Übermensch). Unlike the modern man, whom Nietzsche describes as “an individual who focuses on his short life, wanting to pluck the fruit himself from the tree he has planted, and who therefore no longer likes to plant those trees that require centuries of constant care and are meant to provide shade for future generations,” the Overman dedicates his time on earth to fulfilling his higher purpose, leaving a lasting imprint. Some people will go far to get what they want, but how many people would be willing to die in the name of creating their own destiny? The old man insists that the pursuit of the fish will give his life existential meaning. A demonstration of his will is evident when he stays with the fish until one of them dies. He knows it is up to him not to surrender to his fate and to endure this important moment without falling into despair. And he succeeds, regardless of all the trials he is subjected to.
Lions often appear in the old man’s dreams when he feels lonely and needs courage. The lion is considered a symbol of his spirit, and the old man dreams of living like one. Through the perspective of Nietzsche in his masterpiece Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the image of the lion comes as a metamorphic stage after that of the camel. Following the heavily burdened animal that carries the entire weight of life, “the spirit turns into a lion, who will conquer his freedom and become the master of his own desert.”
The divine spark in man—the will—drags him through all trials toward the creation of something beyond himself. When we speak of the dynamic phenomenon of humanity, the energy possessed by the collective is even stronger. The lion conquers its desert and creates its destiny and values, thus becoming unconquerable. And the thread formed by the will of every individual constitutes the never-ending wheel of life.