The Old Man And The Sea

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.

Not once does Santiago give in to fear or hunger. He does not complain about his bad luck, he doesn’t complain about his hand, which temporarily cramps up, the fish who challenges his strength, or the sharks who destroy his catch. Instead, he does his best with the tools, and dilemmas presented to him. Every step of the way, Santiago honors the fish for its dignity, and tries to protect it against the sharks, which would soon destroy it. To Santiago, it doesn’t take any courage to strike the sharks with his harpoon, or his oar.

“He did not truly feel good because the pain from the cord across his back had almost passed pain and into dullness that he mistrusted.”(74) Once both the fish and Santiago had reached the breaking point of conflict the story seemed to slow down in time to exemplify the adverse conditions that both characters were suffering from. The old man proves himself worthy of personal suffering with the cuts and scars on his hands and back along with all of the pulling and slipping the cords had upon his fragile body. Hemmingway shows in a big way how an out of proportioned conflict with an old fisherman and an 18 foot long marlin helps to magnify the significance of Santiago searching for his rebirth to manhood. With constant abstraction describing the fish and the sea in relation to brotherhood create interesting questions for Santiago to ponder. His rationalization for his fishing is that he was born to do it. “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” (103) Hemmingway proves that this fish represents all of Santiago’s built up tension to total the size of a gigantic marlin that is perceived as devastating but not unconquerable. The old man’s hopes and aspirations can overcome the adversity of the marlin’s size, along with the conditions of the old, hungry, and exhausted fisherman. Through outright suffering Santiago achieves a goal above his previous manhood by combating pain and

A ninth grade student once described Santiago as “just a stupid, senile old man who had no business doing what he did.” I disagree and think that Santiago, a character in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, was a great and honorable man. He proved this by what he did many times over. Santiago showed his character through his actions clearly, throughout the book.

Santiago uses his own experiences, as well as stories told to him by other great fishermen of the past, to achieve knowledge and motivation. For example, in a discussion between Santiago and a boy named Manolin, the boy reminded Santiago, “Remember how you went eighty-seven days without fish and then we caught big ones every day for three weeks?” (Hemingway 10). Santiago learned from this experience that no matter how long of a fishing draught he is experiencing, he will be able to overcome it in great success eventually. This past knowledge proves useful for Santiago as the story describes him being in a similar drought of eighty-four days with no fish (Hemingway 9). This ability to use the past to motivate himself in the present furthermore supports the idea that Santiago follows the Transcendental ethic of learning from the past.

‘I am a tired old man. But I have killed this fish which is my brother and now I must do the slave work’” (95). This relates to perseverance because Santiago has finally caught the fish he’s sought after for days. Most people would have been celebrating their victory, but not Santiago. Santiago surveys the situation and lays his head in his hands. He is tired and ill from his long battle. Santiago only takes a short break. He knows he still has much to do. Santiago now has to worry about bringing the fish home. He thought of the fish as an equal and can’t let his body go to waste. He has traveled at sea for a days and therefore has a long journey home ahead of him. He can’t stop until he makes it home. Finally, Santiago makes it home, “He unstepped the mast and furled the sail and tied it. Then he shouldered the mast and started to climb. It was then he knew the depth of his tiredness. He stopped for a moment and looked back and saw in the reflection from the street light the great tail of the fish standing up well behind the skiff’s stern. He saw the white naked line of his backbone and the dark mass of the head with the projecting bill and all the nakedness

In the novel The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway uses the literary device of metaphors. Hemingway uses the metaphor of the ocean to symbolize life, and to depict the role that individuals play in life. Hemingway uses the metaphor of the lions to signify people who live their lives as active participants. The tourists in the novel represent the individuals, who in observe their lives and are not active participants. In the novels that Ernest Hemingway writes, he uses metaphors to reflect his life experiences and opinions. The ocean in The Old Man and the Sea is a metaphor, which represents Hemingway 's personal view of life. Hemingway believes that in life everyone must find their own niche and uses the metaphor of the ocean and the

Old man/Santiago- thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of the neck. Also has brown blotches of benevolent skin cancer on his cheeks and down the sides of his face. His hands had deep-creased scars. Everything about him was old and his eyes were as blue as the sea. -He has extremely bad luck with catching fish and he is salao, the worst kind of bad luck. Goes on an adventure

       In his novels Ernest Hemingway suggests a code of behavior for his characters to follow: one that demands courage in difficult situations, strength in the face of adversity, and grace under pressure.  Termed the "code hero," this character is driven by the principal ideals of honor, courage, and endurance in a life of stress, misfortune, and pain.  Despite the hero's fight against life in this violent and disorderly world, he is rarely the victor.  The code that the hero follows demands that he act honorably in this uphill battle and find fulfillment by becoming a man and proving his worth.  Hemingway himself lived his life trying to show how strong and unlimited

But perhaps the greatest figure of masculinity found in Hemingway’s work is Santiago from The Old Man and the Sea. He keeps his composure and maintains dignity after the fish that he has been fighting is lost to the sharks.

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.

Throughout literature many protagonist are immediately shown as heroes and were showered accolades for their feats. There are characters though that are not immediately shown out right as being heroic. On the surface when reading The Old Man and the Sea this is a story of an old poor fisherman who ends up battling a great marlin only to have this trophy taken away from him by a group of sharks. Hemingway’s portrayal of Santiago is not only a story of an old fisherman past his prime and whose endeavors end in futility. Through the character of Santiago Hemingway hopes to create a character for his audience to identify with by showing qualities of pride, determination, and heroism.

There is tension between Santiago and the marlin throughout the entire novel. The old man finds kinship with the fish against a common enemy. “‘Half fish,’ he said. ‘Fish that you were. I am sorry that I went too far out. I ruined us both. But we have killed many sharks, you and I, and ruined many others. How many did you ever kill, old fish? You do not have that spear on your head for nothing’” (Hemingway 115). Although he does not recognize it himself, the stakes of the battle with the marlin are so high thanks to

     In conclusion, the hero figure of the novel is indeed the old man, Santiago. He is true, honorable and hard working. He takes nothing for granted and he takes a

Hemingway has a way of making his readers believe that the feats and strengths that his characters obtain in his novels are actually possible. Although this statement may be too critical, and maybe there is a man out there, somewhere on the coast of Cuba who at this very moment is setting out to the open sea to catch a marlin of his own. The struggle many readers have is believing the story of Santiago’s physical powers and his strength against temptation bring forward the question of whether or not The Old Man and the Sea is worthy to be called a classic. Hemingway’s Santiago brought Faulkner and millions of other readers on their knees, while to some, believed Hemingway