The Old Man and the Sea #4

 The Old Man and the Sea, is a book with very few characters.  It has two if you just count humans, Santiago, the old man and Manolin, a boy who is the old man’s companion. If you also count the animals like the marlin, the sharks, the birds, and other fish, there is all kinds of characters.  There is only one hero in this novel though, he is not like the other characters, and he is the main. His name is Santiago, the old man.

Santiago has many traits: lack of luck, lack of fear, determination, and strength (both physically and emotionally). He uses all of these traits throughout the book.  He has a lack of luck, because he cannot seem to catch this marlin that he has been trying to catch for more than 80 days. His lack of luck doesn’t stop him though; he does have the trait of being determined.  Santiago stays out in the sea until he can reel in his precious marlin. Along the way he is physically uncomfortable. The position actually was only somewhat less intolerable; but he thought of it as almost comfortable.” (Hemingway 47). Despite his pain, the old man maintains his glass-half-full personality, and I really respect him for that. When he does finally reel in his marlin, sharks do try to eat it at first, but Santiago stops the couple groups.  He stops them by physically fighting the sharks.  This shows his lack of fear, determination and strength.  Sharks do indeed end up eating most of the marlin though. He them went back to his shack in Havana, he wasn’t emotionally scared, he wanted to go back out. These examples are all of Santiago’s. They are special, because they don’t remind me of any on else.

Santiago accomplishes a lot, and then does end up losing what he had accomplished. He caught his fish that he wanted for so long, and then he ended up losing it to some sharks along the way back to Havana.  I think that Santiago did indeed return to sea, even though the book didn’t tell me he did. I think he had gained some personal knowledge on what it would now have to take to catch another Marlin again. He didn’t accomplish an object, he accomplished gaining knowledge, and I think that’s a lot better than a fish.  

Santiago represents determination.  I know I use this word a lot but it is truly what I think this novel is all about.  I believe this because no matter what happens the old man is never willing to give up.  He gets stronger and learns from his many mistakes out at sea. For example, “What I will do if he decides to go down, I don’t know. What I’ll do if he sounds and dies I don’t know. But I’ll do something. There are plenty of things I can do.” (Hemingway 78) This shows that he has determination that he will eventually get the Marlin, but it will a “waiting game.”   He uses determination throughout all of the plot and conflicts of the novel, The Old Man and the Sea.  

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.