Examples Of Heroism In The Old Man And The Sea

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What is a Hemingway hero?

The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway are based on the virtues of being diligent, having faith, and perseverance. As well as working through the often chaotic, and stressful journey of life. These virtues describe a Hemingway hero, a Hemingway hero is a man who lives correctly following the ideals of honor, courage, and endurance. Santiago, the main character in this novel is portrayed as having all of these virtues. He stays strong throughout the struggles. A hero is someone who rises above when everyone else does not have faith in them, they fight the struggles in life and accomplish what seems to be the impossible.
To be diligent you must have drive, motivation, concentration, and …show more content…

The old man had ventured into the Great blue not knowing whether he would get back home that night, or come back at all. All human beings have awful days once in awhile, yet imagine having eighty-four awful days in a row. Santiago believes that when he goes into the sea he will get the prize fish. After hooking the prize Marlin, the old man fights for two nights and two days to get the fish. By the time the fish is tied to the side of his boat Santiago is exhausted and wounded. The old man was very delighted when he had finally caught the biggest prize Marlin, his luck had finally came to him. “Man is not made for defeat.”(page 2) Santiago showed how brave and courageous he is, when he chose to put up a hard fight. unfortunately, the fish was bleeding out tremendously which attracted the sharks. He fought his hardest fight against the sharks all the way back to the shore, when he had reached land what was his prize marlin; was now just the skeleton of the biggest Marlin …show more content…

The old man has tremendous hope throughout the novella. Santiago was always up for the challenge of catching the biggest Marlin possible. Manolin had faith in the old man when no one else did, every day the little boy (Manolin) was happy and excited to go with Santiago to go fishing. Manolin did not want to go on his parent's boat even though they always caught fish. Everyone else on the winning boats wanted to see Santiago fail. Everyone on their fishing boats refers to Santiago as “Salo” which translates to having bad luck. Santiago connects faith and luck together many times in the book he says, “Only I have no luck anymore. But who knows? Maybe today. Every day is a new day, It is better to be lucky, But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.”(page 2). This is the old mans look on life, he doesn't give up his faith due to knowing that he will get lucky one day and he has to be prepared for when luck comes his way. This is what keeps him so faithful and happy to fish without catching anything. This book is almost a look into Ernest Hemingway’s life about struggle defeat and dearh. His style of writing is very minimalistic, Ernest uses a rather descriptive language and much symbolism in his novels, especially in the old man and the sea. Santiago is displayed as the Hemingway hero in this novella. Faith, diligence, and perseverance all make up a Hemingway hero. The old man and the sea

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