The Old Man and the Sea - Santiago (The Old Man)

Where there are not many characters in The Old Man and the Sea, the ones that are there have well developed characters that I would like to talk about, startinng with the old man. The old man, Santiago, is of Cuban descent and is fairly old. He fishes for a living, though he has not had much luck lately, and lives in a small shack on the coast. He relies on his friend Manolin and they talk about each others day and if they caught any good fish (Hemingway, 11). When he goes out to sea one morning, he spots a rather large marlin. Santiago is very determined when trying to catch the marlin. We see how courageous and patient he is despite how strongly the marlin is fighting back. In the end, Santiago does not end up getting the fish, but that does not quench his love for fishing.

One thing I noticed about the old man was his odd collection of memories. None of them seem to go with each other, and yet they fit together to make Santiago the man that he is. He is unorganized in his thoughts, but it makes his character very unique. He seems to get lost in his thoughts a lot as he remembers his past. As you read through his random thoughts, we see that he once sailed off the coast of Africa, he used to have arm wrestling contests, he loves turtles, and his eyes often hurt in the morning (Hemingway 16-36). He had a wife once that he misses very dearly (Hemingway 14). Everything about him is very detailed, from the wrinkles on his skin to the broadness of his past and his imagination. These details gave him a remarkable character that I grew to enjoy listening to as the story went on.

Lastly, the thing that I admire most about Santiago is his determination. He is courageous, determined, and willing to go against all odds to show people that he can catch the biggest fish. He held through little food, long days, hardly and rest and painstaking work for hours on end. He made the decision to catch that fish, and he was not going to turn back, even though it would have been easier to give up. Because he made that decision, the readers of the story will cheer him on. Reading through it, I found myself on edge because occasionally he would almost lose the fish. The entire character of Santiago is very in depth and I really enjoyed reading about him.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.