Character of Santiago

The Old Man and the Sea was published in 1952 and was acclaimed by many as Hemingway's greatest literary triumph. The story of the novel is lead by an old fisherman named Santiago. He spends most of his life by being a respected, skillful fisherman; working the gulf off Havana, Cuba. Santiago is described as being "thin and gaunt with deep wrinkles in the back of his neck". His face is marked with brown blotches of skin cancer, and his aged hands are scarred from innumerable fishing-cord burns uncured. But the old man is still strong. His shoulders and neck are powerful, and his hands remain capable and firm. The most outstanding feature of Santiago's appearance is his eyes; "Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated". But in spite of the strength which remains in his body, when his eyes are closed, no life can be seen in the fisherman's face.
The physical appearance of Santiago is primarily a direct result of his status in life, food, and environment. Santiago is poor but proud. He lives in a small shack in a fishing village near the ocean. He fishes from a small skiff, and must depend on the ocean not only for his income, but for his food. However his paucity of food is not too great a problem, because the old man has lost his appetite, and eating has become a chore.
However, Santiago is a humble person and also a skillful fisherman. Santiago replies that he knows other fishermen who are better, to which Manolin responds, 'There are many good fishermen and some great ones. But there is only you’. He is a man of character and determination. He is a proud man, as is revealed by the game he plays with the boy, pretending that he will have a pot of yellow rice with fish for supper when Manolin knows that he has nothing to eat. Despite his pride, Santiago has learned to be humble: "He was too simple to wonder when he had attained humility. But he knew he had attained it and he knew it was