Santiago's Loss
In Old Man and the Sea, the fisherman Santiago has caught nothing for the last 84 days. He even catches a massive marlin, only for it to be chomped away by ravenous sharks. Yet Santiago’s main quality of resistance of defeat lets him survive and grow as a prideful man through the experiences he suffers through, without being destroyed.
Santiago’s other main qualities stems from this theme’s resistance of defeat: his pride, humility, and humbleness. Manolin, a boy who stops fishing with Santiago because of his parents, offers sardines to Santiago as a pitiful gesture. Yet Santiago only accepts it after refusing it beforehand, which the author says “He was too simple to wonder when he had attained humility. But he knew he had attained it and he knew it was not disgraceful and it carried no loss of true pride” (14). This shows the determination …show more content…
Once he actually snags the marlin, he can’t really catch it right away. But he is so determined to have the biggest catch that he cuts all the other lines, increasing the amount of risk in store for him. In fact, so much so that the marlin makes a sudden, surging dive, pulling Santiago downward, and cutting his face below the eye. He responds with "Fish, I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends" (54). This shows the reader two important characterization points. First off, this won’t be some breezy walk-in-the-park, but instead a definite life-threatening situation Santiago has put himself in, drunken by pride but fueled by his resistance of defeat. Secondly, it also states a great deal about his respect of the actual size and power of the fish, as well as his humbleness. He compliments a non-sentient animal, which shows his natural comparison or religious appraisal, but more importantly his blatant humble attitude towards life and its gifts, and maybe even making an allegory to life’s own resistance of
Santiago’s other main qualities stems from this theme’s resistance of defeat: his pride, humility, and humbleness. Manolin, a boy who stops fishing with Santiago because of his parents, offers sardines to Santiago as a pitiful gesture. Yet Santiago only accepts it after refusing it beforehand, which the author says “He was too simple to wonder when he had attained humility. But he knew he had attained it and he knew it was not disgraceful and it carried no loss of true pride” (14). This shows the determination …show more content…
Once he actually snags the marlin, he can’t really catch it right away. But he is so determined to have the biggest catch that he cuts all the other lines, increasing the amount of risk in store for him. In fact, so much so that the marlin makes a sudden, surging dive, pulling Santiago downward, and cutting his face below the eye. He responds with "Fish, I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends" (54). This shows the reader two important characterization points. First off, this won’t be some breezy walk-in-the-park, but instead a definite life-threatening situation Santiago has put himself in, drunken by pride but fueled by his resistance of defeat. Secondly, it also states a great deal about his respect of the actual size and power of the fish, as well as his humbleness. He compliments a non-sentient animal, which shows his natural comparison or religious appraisal, but more importantly his blatant humble attitude towards life and its gifts, and maybe even making an allegory to life’s own resistance of