An Interpretation of The Old Man and the Sea from the Perspective of Corporeal Imagery

Abstract

By examining the corporeal imagery of Santiago's hands, this reading challenges interpretations that frame his ordeal as the Christian Passion. Tracing the progressive imagery of the hand, the wound, and the blood, it shows how endurance is rendered visible as physiological events. The hand moves from an obedient tool to a rebellious entity; wounds accumulate as an archive of struggle; blood dissolves
into the sea, eroding the boundary between self and environment. Hemingway replaces martyrdom with occupational injury, a tactical de-theologization. The reading proposes "immanent transcendence": dignity rooted not in salvation but in the disciplined acceptance of physical
limits. The final image of Santiago's sleeping body, palms upturned in exhaustion rather than supplication, epitomizes this materialist ethics.