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Ernest Hemingway's Santiago: A Loser Or Winner

1874 Words8 Pages

Luyu Chen
Mr. Welik
ENG 532-4
18 January 2016 Santiago: A Loser or Winner "Some people live for the fortune; some people live just for the fame. " This was from the lyrics of "If I ain't got you" by Alicia Keys. In the society, people are fighting for different things based on their understanding of the word "success", some people define success as having a great deal of money, and some consider it as possessing power and fame. According to Oxford Dictionary, the word "success" can be defined as: the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. It can also mean the fact of getting or achieving wealth. (Oxford Dictionary online) However, Earnest Hemingway, one of the greatest American novelist in the twenty centuries, has …show more content…

He was an old but experienced fisherman who had not caught any fish for eighty four days. In spite of the fact that nearly “everything about Santiago is old,” his eyes remain:" the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated." (Hemingway, 10), showing that his heart is still young and he is as firm and determined as he was in his prime. The eyes are the windows of the soul, and Santiago's eyes represented his inner heart: undefeated and tenacious. During his voyage on the eighty-fifth day, the old man overcomes his physical limitations by finding inspiration from others and faith in himself. He compares himself to his favorite baseball player Joe DiMaggio, a nine-time world series champion who suffered from bone spur which made it painful for him to run, but DiMaggio ended up succeeding despite this handicap and overcame all odds such as his poor background to become one of the most successful baseball players of all time. DiMaggio is the motivation of Santiago, a lighthouse which guided him out of misery when he was losing his confidence and strength on the second day with the fish:" I must have confidence and I must be worthy of the great DiMaggio, who does all things perfectly even with the pain of the bone spur in his heel."(68) A modest man finds inspiration from others, and Santiago has the humility to learn from other people. By having a hero figure, it provides him with examples to follow. DiMaggio taught him a lesson that to be successful one has to put all of oneself into a task and bear up under difficulty such as bone spur and other physical limitations. Therefore, for Santiago, DiMaggio is his inspiration to overcome physical barriers, withstand pain, endure throughout suffering, and achieve the impossible. It proves that Santiago had the humility to find stimulation as well as encouragement from others, and DiMaggio is a prove to him that talent, fair-play

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