The novel The Old Man and the Sea talks about the life of Santiago, a seasoned fisherman during his early years but is now suffering from a series of failures. The most recent one and the biggest so far is his lack of success in having any catch after 84 days of being at sea. He ends up injuring himself, with scars from old bruises accumulated from his numerous attempts to catch fish, but to no avail. However, his spirit is not broken and he continues to hope each time he goes out to fish, sailing farther than any fisherman has been to before.
The story is complete and is able to establish its essence with just Santiago’s life story, but Manolin’s character is a necessay ingredient as well. Manolin learns fishing from Santiago, and later on becomes his fishing partner. However, due to Santiago’s series of misfortunes, Manolin is ordered by his father to fish with other successful boats. He obeys his father’s wish, but still comes to regularly check on Santiago and takes care of him. “Rest well, old man. I will bring stuff from the drugstore for your hands” (Hemmingway 36), these are Manolin’s words as he takes care of Santiago after he returned from sea. All throughout the story, Santiago is portrayed as a loner, and despite being respected by other fishermen, he is not well-liked. Manolin’s show of devotion and concern for the old man emphasises Santiago’s character as a person and a fisherman. Through his eyes, Santiago’s pride and unending love for fishing is being highlighted, as well as being a person worthy of love and fidelity that he would disregard his father’s wishes to sail with Santiago again.
Work Cited
Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. Web. 3 April 2014.
http://centralschools.org/~shs/OWThe_Old_Man_and_the_Sea.pdf
