The Old Man and the Sea-Q.4

The hero of The Old Man and the Sea is the group of sharks. Just kidding! The book is all about the old man and how heroic and brave he is! After an eighty-four day dry spell the old man is clearly in a situation that no fisherman would what to be in. A journey of three whole days holding onto a 1,500 pound fish is quite the feat. Even though the boy is the only other person who admires him for this it is alright because Santiago is his own hero! He achieved his life long goal of catching a REALLY BIG FISH. The fact that Ernest Hemingway referred to Santiago as 'the old man' for the whole entire length of the novella also proves that he was really old! This means that Santiago is not only a hero for himself anymore but he represents what his generation is still capable of! Old people are highly underestimated.

The hero, or Santiago, represents the abstract idea of courage and determination. He fits the definition of those two ideas perfectly. He is old and frail but he still believes in himself and the power to achieve your goals even at that age. When the old man is out at sea he starts to befriend the marlin on the end of his line. People like to think of their heroes as sane and quick witted. Santiago is befriending a marlin! That is not considered to be normal in this day in age. When this story is being read in today's modern world people may fail to see the value in Santiago's strange heroic ways. He comes off as a crazy old man who fishes every day, has no luck, and talks to nature. This could be why Hemingway designed Santiago the way he did. When we hear anything about old people we forget that they were young at some point too. He may be trying to show us that heroes don't have to look like Chris Hemsworth to teach us an important lesson.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.