The Old Man and the Sea

The Old Man and the Sea

Essay choice #4

Matt Ruwe

English 332

Mrs. Anderson

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 and spend time with rather than his biological father.

Santiago has many noteworthy character traits. He possesses a very strong sense of pride that will not allow him to give up on fishing even after eighty-four days without a single fish. He is also virtuous in that no matter what happens to him, he will not make up excuses or false accounts in an attempt to cover up his bad luck. He is also very unselfish for the reason that he never looks down on the boy or treats him unfairly. Everything they accomplish together, Manolin is given credit for, which I found unusual because more often than not, old men will try to hoard their achievements to try and hold on to their glory days. Instead, Santiago is trying to bestow upon the boy the good values and love for fishing and baseball that he possesses.

In the beginning of the book, Santiago does nothing worthy of receiving any type of praise and everyone in the village as views him as just an old fisherman. Everyone that is, except for Manolin. Santiago is Manolin’s idol and he sticks by him through thick and through thin. I loved how the book ended with Santiago being respected by everyone for catching the biggest marlin anyone had ever seen but still keeping to himself and spending