How Does Hemingway Present Santiago As A Christ Figure

In Ernest Hemingway's famously acclaimed novella, The Old Man and the Sea, our author develops a teacher-student relationship between the previously mentioned old man and a young fisherman, Manolin. Although the old man, Santiago, is the main focus throughout the story, the only other human character given much regard is Manolin. Even though Santiago is the teacher, their relationship is still one of give-and-take, and essentially summed up a single quote: "The old man had taught the boy to fish and the boy loved him" (Hemingway 1). Santiago gives Manolin knowledge, and return Manolin gives him love, and with that, praise. As the author, Hemingway strives to emphasize Santiago’s role as a christ-figure (which is also a teacher-figure), and in order to accomplish that he must give christ a disciple to impart his wisdom.

Being a disciple is not Manolin’s purpose of the story, but being Peter is. As a religious allegory, The Old Man and the Sea parallels the story the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In particular, Manolin represents Peter, Jesus’ head disciple. This is evident because of Manolins position as a fisherman being taught how to fish by Santiago, which parallels the fisherman Peter, who was shown how to fish through his faith by Jesus Christ. But Manolin is more essential to the storytelling aspect of the novella rather than the