Through times of struggle, humans resort to memories and ideas to help them through the conflict. This is particularly true when it comes to the hardships of fishing. Santiago is at battle for many days with a large marlin where he becomes triumphant, although temporarily, he was not defeated. He uses memories of the boy and baseball to keep his mind of the pain that he was in to fulfill his duty as a fisherman. Using characterization, point of view and symbolism, youthful strength, courage, and love of nature is strongly demonstrated in Ernest Hemingway's novella The Old Man and the Sea.
Santiago's strength and endurance was given to him by the boy before he left both physically with the food and bait, and mentally …show more content…
William J. Handy quotes the narrater "To be defeated in fishing is not a defeated man," (208). In the novella, the old man believes that he is defeated, but as soon as he talks to the boy, he realizes that he was not defeated and will go fishing again. The boy helps him recover from his experience. When Santiago left, everybody made fun of him and laughed at him for being the worst form of unlucky and going 84 days at sea without catching a fish, but when he gets back, it seems that everybody cares. People started to ask the boy how the man was doing and seeming to care. A search team was even sent out at sea to find the man. This demonstrated that although he was beat up by the fish and came back with many cuts and bruises, he came back to people who loved him from this experience (Hemingway 125). Mario Vargas Llosa says that "He rises above his condition and 'rubs shoulders with mythological heroes and gods...,'" (5). The old man shows the fish what man can withstand (Baker 4). The old man achieved a greater "moral greatness" from fighting with the fish (William J. Handy). Carlos Baker believes that "...through great hardship and effort - keeps him from dying of hunger," (4). The old man says "But man is not made for defeat... A man can be destroyed, but never defeated," (Hemingway 103). Although Santiago came back to his home all bloodied and beat up, he never gave up on fishing or the