How Does Hemingway Present Santiago As A Christ Figure

In the book The Old Man and the Sea, the author, Earnest Hemingway, uses multiple accounts of symbolism to give the reader have a better perspective of the book. In order to specifically help the reader portray the protagonist’s life, Hemingway decided to relate Santiago’s life with the life of Christ. This relation is necessary because it supports a main theme of the book, to not give up even through pain and struggle. Throughout the book, there multiple occasions that Christianity is portrayed through Santiago to give the reader a better understanding of the struggle that Santiago had to overcome. One way that the christian religion is displayed through the character Santiago is the pain of his cramped hand. Hemingway compares Santiago with Jesus to assist the reader’s knowledge of the struggles that he has to overcome. “He could feel the steady hard pull of the line and his left hand was cramped.” (Hemingway 15) In this passage, it is the first time that Santiago’s struggle with his hand cramp was brought up, and this can be compared to Jesus when his hands were nailed onto the cross. Another way Santiago’s hand cramps were compared to Jesus was when he stated “feeling the nail go through his hands and into the wood” (Hemingway 30) which is a direct comparison to the crucifixion of
Jesus. This comparison to Jesus’ nailed hand shows the reader the significancy of the pain that Santiago had in his hand, but that he did not let that stop him from completing his ultimate goal, which was to catch the marlin, and that he persevered through his pain. Another way Santiago is compared to Christ is when he finally gets home with his catch.
“He started to climb again and at the top he fell and lay for some time with the mast across his shoulder. He tried to get up. But it was too difficult and he sat there with the mast on his shoulder and looked at the road.” (Hemingway 34) This passage explains how Santiago carried his mast from the boat and continues to stumble, just as Jesus fell over and over again as he carried the cross that he would later die on. This relation specifically shows the dedication and determination that Santiago had to never give up even after fighting with the marlin for three straight days with no
sleep. In conclusion, Earnest Hemingway did a beautiful job of giving the reader an essential comparison of Santiago to Jesus. Without this comparison, the reader may not know the true struggle that Santiago went through and the extra commitment that he had to never give up. This connection is also very important because it supports one of the themes of the book, which is to not give up, by giving the reader a well-known figure to be able to compare Santiago to.