The Old Man And The Sea Character Analysis

In both competitions, Santiago demonstrates a great sense of will power and perseverance. For example, the arm wrestling match was also a test of endurance, just like his battle with the marlin: “They had gone one day and one night with their elbows on a chalk line…the odds would change back and forth all night…but [Santiago would] raise his hand up to dead even again” (70). Similarly, he fights the fish for three long days and does not give up. After this twenty-four hour arm wrestling game, “everyone called him The Champion” (70). This defeat was important for Santiago because it proved that Santiago once had enough strength to beat the strongest man on the docks, who is implicitly compared to the marlin. It is also interesting to note that during this part of the narrative, Santiago also remembers another worthy opponent: Joe DiMaggio, another hero who shows an amazing strength of will that helps him overcome adversity. With this flashback, then, Hemingway establishes a sense of heroic virtues as spiritual rather than physical qualities.

The epic journey of “The Old Man and the Sea” describes struggle, discipline and manhood. The main characters relationships exemplify how faith and skill overcome man’s adversity during life on the sea. Santiago’s growing relationship with the boy idealizes his statute as a father figure and develops his integrity and values towards the boy. Hemmingway shows us how an old fisherman’s will to overcome the sea’s obstacles proves his manhood to himself and the young boy. His skills and knowledge of the sea provide a positive influence for the young boy to become a great fisherman someday.

Even though he is an adolescent boy, Manolin loves spending time with Santiago. He loves to go out fishing with him but, his parents no longer will let him. The reason for this is because Santiago has not caught a fish for eighty-four days. As a result of this unfortunate occurrence, others deem Santiago the term salao, or the worst kind of unlucky. Knowing the struggle Santiago is facing, Manolin tries to help him in as many ways as possible. Manolin brings Santiago drinks, food and the newspaper so they can talk about baseball and the great Joe DiMaggio. In spending all this time with the old man, Manolin develops a form of respect for him. He comes to understand that despite the recent unlucky situations, Santiago remains hopeful as well as prideful. This is why Manolin looks up to the old man so much. “Santiago… I could go with you again. We have made some money. The old man had taught the boy to fish and the boy loved him” (Hemingway 10). Along with just loving Santiago for himself, Manolin also looks up to him because Santiago taught him how to fish. Manolin understands that he is a large part of Santiago’s life and feels honored and

In the novel The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway, there is a fish that the old man finally catches after 84 days, but is consumed by Mako shark’s in the process of reeling it in. Santiago, the old man, had a strong connection with the marlin even though he only saw him for a short period of time. They taught each other many things through a tug and war type of play. Catching a marlin fish was a goal of Santiago that he had been attempting to fulfill for a decent period of time, and after being persistent and patient, slowly but surely he was able to succeed. Many symbols in Hemingway’s novel have their own counterparts in my own life, which include a goal, hope, and idolization.

The Old Man and The Sea, is a tale of an old man named Santiago who is a fisherman. He hasn’t had any luck with fishing, resulting in the other town members viewing him as a lame old man. A boy who used to fish with him inspires to change up his usual fishing tactics resulting in him catching a great huge fish. After fighting the fish for a couple days in his tiny boat he ties it to the side, headed for shore. On the way in sharks eat his entire catch leaving a skeleton to show for his work. The reader can see a clear metaphor painted by Hemingway. The fish

Manolin admires Santiago, and is always there to help and take care of him. Santiago thinks of Manolin as his own son, and is his only hope to carry on his legacy. THESIS Hemingway uses Santiago’s relationship with Manolin to convey that when you pass down your knowledge and lessons about your experiences of life to your child or student in order to help them with their own journeys throughout their lives, your legacy will continue to live on. PREVIEW To support the concept of living on through one’s legacy, Hemingway uses examples of archetypes of the wise old man, with Santiago teaching Manolin how to fish, when the student Manolin states his memories of fishing with Santiago, and resurrection with Santiago’s conversation with Manolin about luck and suffering.

succeed. He uses his hands and he uses his instincts to master the art of

The novel written by Ernest Hemingway tells the story of an old fisherman named Santiago (referred to as "the old man") and his quest of catching a fish. Unfortunately, the old man has been down on his luck and has been fish-less for eighty-four days. The next time the old man leaves for a fishing trip, he sets sail farther than any fisherman has ever gone before, and he refuses to go home until he has proven to himself and to society that he is more than an average old man. However the old man is forced to overcome many challenges on his quest. His old age hinders him drastically and when he is finally able to get a fish on his line, he is not strong enough and is unable to reel the fish in. On the third day of the fishing expedition as the old man continues to struggle with the fish (a large marlin), he begins to reflect on the nature of the universe and his low place in society. The old man begins to feel pity for the fish, however also feels an unflagging determination to kill

One might think that destruction is like defeat, but it is not. Think of it like someone rebuilding a house after it was destroyed by a storm; the house might have fallen apart, but it is not gone forever, it is eventually going to return better than ever. The parable, The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway shares similar characteristics with the boxing drama Rocky directed by John G. Avildsen. The Old Man and the Sea is set in a fishing village near Havana, Cuba during the 1940s, and Santiago is the protagonist. Rocky Balboa from the movie Rocky that takes place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1975 displays the same theme as The Old Man and the Sea.

Santiago of The Old Man and the Sea is the quintessential “Hemingway Hero”-a type of fictional character created by Hemingway in all of his books whose basic response to life appealed very strongly to the readers. The Old Man begins the narrative with all the elements of such a hero despite his senescence and poverty. He shows strength, determination, and dedication to himself despite his struggles. Santiago relates back to readers as a strong failure who picks himself up repeatedly.

It is ambiguous whether the old man succeeds or fails. At first, it seems that if Santiago has failed. “He sailed lightly now and he had no thoughts nor any feelings of any kind” (Hemingway 119). It is almost like he has lost everything that he has worked for. The old man accepts defeat as is, without mourning or grief Fortunately, after all the damage has been taken, he keeps fishing. He built some sort of relationship with the marlin, but was later broken. He has since moved on.

     In the timeless novel The Old Man and the Sea, the hero is undoubtedly the old man, Santiago, whom us as readers become very acquainted with. Santiago is a hard-worker and perseveres through every problem nature brings to him. He is in the midst of a horrendous fishing drought, during which the townspeople laugh and ridicule him. Santiago just lets the criticism pass him by because he is confident that the fish of his lifetime is coming soon. In a sense, Santiago represents the ideas of honor and pride. He is also a hero to a young boy named Manolin who conveys the image that the old man is whom he would rather live

The nobility of character of the old man prevents him from feel hate and rancor toward the other fishermen. Despite the taunts of the other fishermen, Santiago is quiet and admits having a bad streak of luck. This makes him an honorable man, which avoids any conflict and is able to recognize his flaws as a fisherman. Although the sea has given him several bitter drinks, he is able to keeping on loving it. “A man is honest when he acts honestly, he is humble when he acts humbly, he loves when he is loving or being loved.” (Waldmeir 165). Perhaps, the crowning act of humility in Santiago is when he is forced to recognize that by his own forces he will not be enough to grab the fish, and decides to carry out prayers to the Almighty. At the end of the hunting of the big animal, Santiago does not become conceited. His simple and humble soul thanks with a prayer for the outcome of his effort. Although the fighting has been severe and bloody, the old man was not self-styled "hero”. Santiago humbly considers himself as one fisherman more, and the categorization as a hero depends on the readers. “It is the knowledge that a simple man is capable of such decency, dignity, and even heroism, and that his struggle can be seen in heroic terms, that largely distinguishes this book.” (Young 131). The evident relation between his humility and dignity helps to place Santiago as a perfect

Over and over again he is remarked to be a strange old man, and he himself is the one to glorify that. He seems to struggle with the fact that he must prove himself to the other fisherman who mock him and believe him to be a fallen hero. He sets off to sea in his boat one day, but what he does not know that it will be the three most tiring days of his life. He first catches a smaller fish and instead of turning back, he decides to go farther out into the ocean to see what he can catch with that fish. He soon is dragged all over and back by a shiny purple marlin, that is two feet longer than his skiff. The response to Santiago’s poor decision or lack of creativity to harpoon the marlin instead of try to kill it another was as to not attract mako sharks was confusing. He is shown to be a man of intelligence and greatness, yet his decision to kill the marlin in this manner knowing what could happen proves that he had a distinct motive for harpooning the fish. By the words of Gery Brenner, “that motive is self validation-the need to prove himself”(Brenner 55). In the end, after the three day struggle, when Santiago returns to the dock, he is told by Manolin later that he was said to be lost at sea, and everyone was completely taken away by the length of the mangled carcass that he brought in. The take many get from Hemingway’s novel is

Many of Ernest Hemingway’s stories are either literally or figuratively based on his life experiences. The Old Man and the Sea is a novella written by the American author Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Bimini, Bahamas, and published in 1952. It was the last major work by Hemingway that was published during his lifetime. Its writing was influenced by his life around him. This is shown through the way the novella is written and key events and parts within it. The Old Man and the Sea can be interpreted as an allegory of Hemingway’s life and career at the time he wrote it.