The Old Man and the Sea: Isolation Human beings need to live in a group where everyone respect them and treat them equally. No human being can live alone isolated from other people because one hand can not clap by itself. In the old man and the sea, the author uses setting, character and symbolism to show that people who society perceives as different are usually isolated . Once one is able to discover the reason of their existence, they are able to accept themselves in order to fulfill their goals. Through setting the reader understands that society isolate people who are considered to be dif