Santiago And The Marlin Analysis

Starting from the very beginning of the novel, Santiago was defined as someone struggling against defeat. He had gone eighty-four days without catching any fish. However, the old man refused defeat every time; he made up his mind to sail out past all the other fishermen to where the bigger fish usually were. He finally caught a marlin after a difficult three-day battle, and even after that he continued to fight off sharks from eating his prize, even though he knew the effort was useless. Both Santiago and the marlin showed pride, honor, and bravery, and both were victims of the same general rule: they must kill or be killed. Santiago realized this as he reflected upon a tired warbler flying towards shore, where, he believed, it would surely

run into a hawk, for the world is filled with predators, and no living thing can escape the inevitable struggle that will eventually lead to its death. Santiago’s philosophy that he lived by was that man is not made for defeat and that although a man can be destroyed, he can never be defeated. In Hemingway’s portrayal of the world, death is inescapable, but the best men will always refuse to give in to its power. Therefore, the old man and fish will struggle until death. Santiago, though destroyed at the end of the novel, was never actually defeated. Instead, he ended as a hero. Santiago’s struggle did not enable him to change man’s place in the world, but instead it enabled him to meet his most dignified destiny.