TITLE:
The Triple Decline Narrative in The Old Man and the Sea
AUTHORS:
Chunhui Pang
KEYWORDS:
The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway, Age Studies, Decline Narrative, Mirror Stage of Old Age
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.13 No.7,
July
14,
2026
ABSTRACT: 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.