No matter the severity of the situation, Santiago holds firm to his honor and pride in struggle and battle. Having gone more than two and a half months without catching a fish, Santiago never admits to poverty and holds his head high among those who have been more fortunate than he. This is apparent when he offers the boy food and drink, well aware that he has none, and the boy politely answers that he will eat at home. “There was no cast net and the remembered when they had sold it. But they went through this fiction every day. There was no pot of yellow rice and fish and the boy knew this too.” This routine is a strong example of Santiago’s honor as he is not embarrassed by who or what he is, but looks at every trial through an optimistic angle, and Manolin’s steadfast belief in the old man helps keep his pride untouched and firm. Moreover, his unwavering pride is discerned when the boy asks him if he wishes to borrow two dollars and he loving explains, “But I try not to borrow. First you borrow. Then you beg.” Even though he is of need, Santiago chooses his values above all else and considers nothing that would disgrace them. This can be greater seen in his journey with the marlin. His appreciation of his opponents and love for them, further displays his pellucid moral character. “It is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers.” He teaches one that the true battle is between two honorable and skilled opponents rather than two angry blind individuals, and that a worthy competitor can be found in anything or anyone.
El Campeon (champion) shows courage in all its glory, as he demonstrates it in face of pain defeat, and death. Santiago’s pride and honor serve as a source for his indestructible courage. To face each day of life isolated and taunted by others, but the boy, and still look to a new morning with the same optimism and anticipation as the last, in itself requires immense courage. Perhaps the simplest example of this trait is the old man’s daring to ride out farther out into the sea than any other fisherman, alone and poorly equipped. When the ravaging sharks arrive to steal his catch, Santiago determinedly guards and protects his brother, even when there is little to save. “I’ll fight them until I die.” His belief in his inner strength and confidence in himself, overshadow his vulnerability and idea that he is an old man at a task far too great for him. His honor and courage work as one when he must finally kill the marlin. “Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who.”Upon realizing the true size of fish, which he had previously only guessed at, Santiago does not cower from the risk, but respects his noble competitor and embraces the prospective of death.
“…suffer like a man.” Santiago’s mindset that endurance in suffering constitutes genuine manhood, fortifies his fragility against the toughest of trials. .“…a cramp…humiliates oneself especially when one is alone.” Having held the line in place for over 2 days, he is faced with a cramp in his left hand, but Santiago is never one to complain. Instead of wallowing in self pity, a more common reaction, the old man feels in fact embarrassed by it, as though his body had betrayed him. His indifference to physical pain clearly portrays the greater strength of motivation and resolve. To propel himself further in the strain, Santiago makes use of the memories of his youth to provide him with confidence and endurance, as well as reminds himself of his idol, the great DiMaggio. “…I must be worthy of the great DiMaggio who does all things perfectly even with the pain of the bone spur in his heel.”Looking to his hero for tenacity, Santiago keeps to his words, “Sail on this course and take it when it comes.”, and tackles hunger, sleepless nights, and the ravenous sharks with the power and effort of many men combined.
Santiago ideally personifies the idea that destiny must be taken into one’s own hands but he does not negate God’s will, and draws confidence from his faith, as he does faith from his confidence. “I am not religious…but I promise to make a pilgrimage to the Virgin de Cobre if I catch him.”Santiago mechanically says prayers throughout his journey, but not in religious worship more so he may gain peace and hope from them. “…I dream of the lions.”The lions seem to symbolize beauty and achievement to the old man and he reminds himself of them for new faith and new will. This he sources from his belief in his own power and his ability to prove himself. He tells the boy at the beginning of the novel, that he is strange old man, and feels now is the time he must prove this. “The thousand times that he had proven it meant nothing…Each time was a new time and he never thought about the past.” Manolin, also serves as a source for his faith, for the boy’s pure confidence in and heartfelt love for him builds hope in Santiago to win yet another challenge for himself and for the boy. The power of love is openly exemplified as Santiago fights this new battle with the faith of seeing the boy once again, and going fishing better prepared the following day.
Critics have not faulted in identifying the Old Man and the Sea, as one of Hemingway’s greatest works. He has truly outdone himself, in this novella that forces the reader to ponder his own character and place in life. “Man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” Honor, courage, endurance, and faith are the constituents of a great man, and Santiago is nothing less than that. He teaches the reader of the relative insignificance of physical appearance and material wealth, when values such as those previously mentioned, can sustain you far better than any superficial possession or quality. Santiago evokes the inner campeon in every reader and divulges the fact that defeat is worthless if it is over-shined by the light of a new dawn and a new hope.
