Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea": An Analysis Everyone has an arch enemy. Batman had the Joker, Superman had Lex Luthor. But without their enemies, they would be unimportant, just like anyone else. One could say that they needed their enemies, that their enemies were almost friends. Similarly, The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway, is a love story about the relationship developed over the years between a man and his lifelong friend and foe, the sea. Within the following paragraphs, it will be proven that the man needed the sea, that the two respected each other, and were very close.