not get killed by the sharks. The fish had the easy way out with the help of the Old Man. The Old Man has machismo by the way he lives and does things. He is poor and still fights the marlin to prove he is the best fisherman in his village. Machismo or macho is the old Man wrapped in a ball. Santiago nearly kills himself by starving to catch the fish. He also has no one to talk to. Santiago lets the fish hurt him with rope burns and cuts from trying to catch the fish. The Old Man is machismo because he knows he wants the fish so he tries the hardest he can to get it. Campbell 2 Santiago since he is lonely talks to himself and sometimes talks about Joe DiMaggio.
Joe is a god to Santiago because he thinks that anything that Joe can do he can do. “Do you believe the great DiMaggio would stay with a fish as long as I will stay with this one?” (Hemingway 87) DiMaggio even having a bone spur keeps his hitting streak alive. The importance of what Hemingway is saying is that all is really possible if you try the hardest and don’t give up. Santiago’s determination helps him catch the fish and end his bad streak of not catching a fish for 84 days. When the old man finally got home after the long fishing trip the marlin is now a skeleton. The Marlin’s significance is hard work and determination because if he would had given up on catching the fish he couldn’t have the skeleton to show that he really is good luck and Manolin’s parents would now let him fish with the Old Man. “But he was too big.” (Hemingway 90) The Old Man knew the fish was so big he still caught the fish proving he was the best of the best. The Old Man was set on what he wanted to do and he accomplished it. He knew he bit off more than he could chew but he went out to sea to catch the fish. Santiago could have gone home he had nothing to go home too. The old man only had his boat and what he had with him. The old man is the true
machismo.