The account of Santiago’s struggle with the
marlin has a tragic quality because of the suffering that Santiago undergoes,
because of the suffering of the marlin, and because of the endurance of both
the fish and the fisherman.
Our
admiration and our pity are aroused both for Santiago and for the marlin. From
the very first Santiago shows determination. "Fish", he says, aloud,
"I”ll stay with you until I am dead". Next, he says, "Fish, I
love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day
ends", His left hand becomes cramped, and the marlin proves to be bigger
than he had thought it to be. He wishes to show to the marlin what sort of a
man he is. "But I will show him what a man can do and what a man
endures". He admires the manner of
the marlin's behavior and its great dignity. He has had no sleep for half a day
and a night and another day. It would be good even if he could sleep
"twenty minutes or half an hour". His hands have now been badly cut
and he is "tired deep into his bones". He feels that the fish is
killing him but he does not mind. "Come on and kill me", he says,
"I do not care who kills who". His pride is by now gone. The fish, in
spite of the agony it is undergoing, has proved obstinate and tough. When the
fish has been killed, there come the sharks to eat it. Santiago has hardly
enjoyed his feeling of Victory ("I think the great DiMaggio would be proud
of me today” ) when the first shark, a Mako, appears. He drives his harpoon
into the shark's brain "with resolution and complete malignancy".
Here he also speaks those memorable words: " But man is not made for
defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated". He knows he has
performed another heroic act. "I wonder how the great DiMaggio would have
liked the way I hit him in the brain ? he says with reference to his killing
the Mako. Then come the two galanos and Santiago says "Ay", a word
which a man might utter if nails were driven through his palms and into the
wood. This image of the crucifixion is intended to convey the agony of
Santiago. When the thought comes to him that more sharks might come in the
night, he says, "I’ll fight them until I die". But by midnight he
knows that the fight is useless. He knows that he is now beaten finally and is
without remedy". His journey up the hill to his shack and his posture as
he lies asleep on his bed are again described in terms reminiscent of the
Crucifixion, to emphasize his suffering and his endurance. When he tells the
boy that he has been beaten, the boy says that he has not been beaten by his
adversary, the marlin, and Santiago agrees. "No. Truly. It was
afterwards". He is not averse to talking with the boy about future plans
and
when he falls asleep again he dreams about the lions (a symbol of youth and
strength). Santiago's heroic quality does not forsake him till the end. Throughout,
his ordeal and his attitude of mind are so described as to arouse our
admiration and our pity for him. And as the marlin shows precisely the qualities
which Santiago has, we pity and admire the marlin too. Thus both man and fish
are tragic characters. The man returns home physically broken, though
spiritually still strong, while the fish is reduced to a skeleton which yet
produces a feeling of awe in all those who see it. Apart from his courage and
endurance, other qualities which make Santiago admirable in our eyes are his
tenderness, compassion, and love for the various creatures (birds, porpoise,
flying fish, green turtles, hawks bills, etc.), his charity, his faith, and his
piety.
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