The Lions on the beach motif in The Old Man and the Sea

One of the reoccurring subjects in this book is the lions on the beach. Santiago falls asleep and dreams several times in the novel, and when he does, he almost always is dreaming of the lions on the beach. The book mentions him dreaming of them three times. Once in the beginning, after Santiago talks to Manolin, he goes to sleep and it says, “He only dreamed of places now and of the lions on the beach. They played like young cars in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy.” (Hemingway pg. 25) Later, when Santiago is on the boat and is very tired and uncomfortable from being pulled by the Marlin,  he finally lets himself sleep, and the book describes this, saying, “ After that he began to dream of the long yellow beach and he saw the first of the lions come down onto it in the early dark and then the other lions came and he rested his chin on the wood of the bows where the ship lay anchored with the evening off-shore breeze and he waited to see if there would be more lions and he was happy.” (Hemingway pg. 81) At the end of the book, after Santiago has come back home and is exhausted and grieving his loss of the Marlin, the book describes him, saying, “Up the road, in his shack, the old man was sleeping again. He was still sleeping on his face and the boy was sitting by him watching him. The old man was dreaming about the lions.” (Hemingway pg. 127) After reading about these three instances, and after noticing the reoccurrence of the lions, I began to think about why the old man chooses to dream of them so often, and what they mean to him. I believe that the lions on the beach represent Santiago’s happy place. A place he remembers at one time where he was happy and comforted, and interested. It is a glimpse into Santiago’s mind, and it shows that one of the most amazing and comforting things he remembers seeing in his lifetime was lions playing together on a beach. He dreams about them mainly when he is in a bad situation, and he finds a sense of peace dreaming about this memory because he was at peace when it really happened. Santiago dreams of them at home, when he is depressed and saddened about coming home empty handed, when is exhausted and upset and in pain on the boat, and when he comes home grieving the loss of his Marlin. He doesn’t dream of his misfortune, instead, he dreams of a good memory he once had, and how happy it made him. In his dreams, he escapes to a place where he was truly happy.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.