preview

Why Is Santiago Defeated In The Old Man And The Sea

Decent Essays
Open Document

“ Man can be destroyed but not defeated”. Santiago thinks this in the story the Old Man and the Sea. I wholeheartedly disagree with this quote. Santiago was defeated in his voyage with the marlin. He has to base his success off of others, receives charity from his neighbors who work hard for their own living,profits off of nothing in the book, and is unlucky from the very first page.
On the first page of the book, the Old Man and the sea, it states “ He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.” He was considered unlucky by a majority of people in the village. He breaks his unlucky streak when he catches the fish in the boat. He has to eat this fish to stay strong, so he couldn’t make any money off of that. When the eighteen foot marlin he hooks get demolished by sharks, it starts his unlucky streak up again. Therefore, he was still poor. …show more content…

What rich man would fish alone eighty-four days in a row without catching any fish? On page nineteen, it tells that he was barefooted. It is almost impossible to be successful but still not own a pair of shoes. Manolin, or the boy, seems to be a bit better off money wise and takes pity on Santiago so he buys him sardines. On page twenty-one, Manolin thinks “ I must have water here for him. And soap and a good towel. Why am I so thoughtless? I must get him another shirt and a jacket for the winter and some sort of shoes and another blanket.” Santiago receives more charity when the owner of the store gives him supper. It’s a bit pathetic when both Santiago and Manolin have to go through the whole fantasy of having supper. On page thirty-nine, the old man thinks “ And the rich have radios to talk to them in their boats and to bring them the baseball.” This shows that he’s bitter that he couldn’t keep on his favorite baseball player, Joe

Get Access