Hero of the Novel

The hero of the novel is an old man. His name is Santiago.

He is a born fisherman. He lives in a coastal village near Havana.
He is not a common angler. He hooks big fish like Dolphin, Marlin
and Shark. He is strong and gaunt. His eyes are of sea colour. He
has no relations and lives alone. A boy, Manolin looks after him.
He fishes in Gulf Stream with the help of a small skiff. He has
simple and cheap fishing apparatus. The boy, Manolin helps him
in fetching the apparatus to and from his shack. His shack is
made of sturdy fibred guano. There is a table, a chair, a bed
covered with newspapers and an army blanket in his shack. He
has decorated the walls of his shack with the pictures of Jesus
Christ and Virgin of Cobre. His shirt as well as the sail of his skiff
is patched with floor sack. His sail is so tattered that the writer
calls it “The flag of permanent defeat”. The people call him
“salao” because of his continuous hard luck. He has been without
fish for eighty-four days. For the first forty days the boy, Manolin
was with him but then his parents send him to another boat
because they have become fed up with his skiff that always returns
empty. The boy Manolin loves him very much and does not want to
leave him but he is bound to obey his parents. Now he tries to help
the old man by serving him with food, beer and sardines (for bait).

The old man is an ordinary sailor but the light of determination in

his eyes makes him someone special. He calls himself “A Strange
Old Man”. He is no doubt a strange old man so far as his courage
and endurance is concerned. After eighty-four desperate days of
fruitless struggle he is still ready to test his luck and to go fishing
to regain his reputation as a successful fisherman and also to
remove the slur of being Salao. Following are some of the
important aspects of his character that make him hero of the novel
and representative of the whole human race:
• His loneliness:
Santiago, the hero is leading a life of loneliness. He is leading
his life courageously. He has formed the habit of talking to
himself overcome his feeling of loneliness. He thought aloud
and talked to himself to console and comfort himself. He has
put the photograph of his wife under his clean shirt in the
corner because it makes him too lonely. His cry during the
heroic struggle, “I wish I had the boy. To help me and to see
this” indicates his feeling. He talks to sea, to fish and to the
bird.
 The writer wants to show that need of a companion is natural.
A man can live alone but cannot avoid feeling lonely.
• His passion of love:
The old man is kind hearted and loving by nature. His
behaviour with the boy indicates his love. He even loves the
birds that could not catch any fish. He invites a bird to take
rest in his skiff. He thinks that fish are man’s brother. He feels
sorry for the huge Marlin, as he says when he was trying to
beat the fish he says
His expertise:
The old man is not only a fisherman par excellence but also a
confident explorer of the sea. He is one of those very few people who
stand in no need of the conventional apparatus like a compass or a
wireless set for guidance. He can locate his position in any part of the sea
with the help of trade wind. When the fish drags him into the high seas,
he is not at all afraid. Another fisherman in his place would have cut off
the line and sailed back, but he says, “Fish I will stay with you until I
am dead”. He is so daring not because of stupidity but because of his
sound knowledge and his well placed confidence.

• His sense of humour:

The conversation between Santiago and Manolin is lighthearted
and perfectly enjoyable. His address to the bird especially his remarks
“what the birds are coming to,” his taunts and threats to his own left
hand. His promises to say, “Our Fathers and Hail Mary’s” as well as his
remarks “consider them said” are all very amusing. He says to the
second shark, “Go and see your friend or may be it’s your mother,”
and he says to himself “you talk too much old man,” are all humorous.

• His Reveries:
The old man is alone on the sea. The boy Manolin has been taken away
from him and he has no radio to bring him baseball or music. Quite naturally,
he takes to self-communing. His deliberations sometimes become his reveries or
a vocal stream of the subconscious. Although talking during fishing is
injudicious yet he cannot help doing so. He talks to the bird that alights upon
his line to take rest, to the hand as it cramps. His conversation on these
occasions is amusing and witty and at the same time thought provoking.

• His dreams:
The writer has employed symbolism to convey his message
completely.

• His struggle: His optimism: His unscathed pride:

• His symbolic significance: His sense of religion:
• His past memories: His confidence: His resolution: