Hero - Old Man and The Sea

When you hear the word "hero", you automatically think of superman, batman, and "hero's" like that.  You begin to think of the people who save the world from evil villains.  In the book The Old Man and The Sea, there is no typical hero.  Nobody does anything spectacular that you would associate with a hero.  However, in this book, the hero would have to be the old man because of what he does.  He overcomes many challenges throughout the story like:  finally catching a fish, catching an eighteen foot fish, and going on a three day journey and killing the fish.  Santiago was an old, unlucky, and caring man (Hemingway, 9).   Although he had all the reason to be grumpy and mean, Santiago cared for fishing and the young boy who looked up to him.
Santiago has a few small accomplishes throughout the story, but by far the greatest accomplishment that Santiago achieved was that he caught the marlin.  At first it really does not sound like that great of an accomplishment, but when you think about it, it was a huge accomplishment.  Going so long without any fish, Santiago catches not just any fish, but the biggest fish he had ever caught.  Santiago is portrayed as a calm man who loves fishing.  He does what he loves but and looks forward to each day of fishing (Hemingway, 10). 
Santiago arguably could represent multiple things.  Strength, courage, and the will to not give up could be considered what he represents.  In my opinion, Santiago represents calmness.  Throughout the book, he was always calm when he could have been scared or worried.  When he was out at sea all by himself, he was very calm and collected, where I would have been freaking out.  When he had the fish he was confident and calm.  He never got so excited when he hooked the fish, and he was never frustrated when he could not bring it in.  He was very calm which gave the book a very relaxed feeling to it.  

 

 

Bibliography

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1996. Print.