Code Hero example essay topic

II. CODE HERO Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid... He is the hero, he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor, by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world.

-- Raymond Chandler A code hero is defined as a man's man. He is courageous and honorable, and while he is the center of many women's attention, he merely sees women as objects of lust and pleasure. He lives life the right way and will not comply with evil. Finally, a code hero will face death bravely, but once he does so, he must do it again and again, constantly proving himself. He is not afraid of death, but knows life after death is nonexistent. Hemingway made the code hero famous by including it in most of his major novels and short stories.

Hemingway shows this hero through characterization and plot. In The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago is the code hero. Hemingway's characterization of him reveals this nature. When Santiago was out at sea on his skiff, he was longing for company. He thought to himself, "No one should be alone in their old age" (48).

Following the trait of a code hero, Santiago thinks this because as he ages, he knows he is getting closer to death every day. When he is alone, this is what he thinks about, so he wants his loved ones to be by him to keep his mind off death and focus on living. When Santiago was trying to catch the marlin, his fishing line left a deep cut on his right hand. Rather than allow it to hinder his performance, he says, "It is not bad... And pain does not matter to a man" (84). This statement gives Santiago the man's man image, which goes hand in hand with being a code hero.

He will not let pain affect him in his endeavors because he does not want to let the fish beat him. He wants to be the champion of the fight, which is a characteristic of a man's man. After he kills the first shark the attacked his marlin, he was feeling depressed because the shark took some of the meat off his marlin. However, he did not let himself lose. He accepted his small loss by saying, "But man is not made for defeat... A man can be destroyed but not defeated" (103).

His acceptance of his loss and his will to win the war dub him a worthy code hero because it shows his endurance and courage in times of desperation. He lost the battle, but he was determined to win the war. Certain parts of the plot of The Old Man and the Sea advance Hemingway's portrayal of Santiago as a code hero. After Santiago hooked the marlin, he realized that it was much larger than he had bargained for. This put him in a bad situation since he was by himself trying to catch such a giant fish. Most men in this predicament would have cut the line and searched for a new catch, but Santiago could not let himself lose.

He was in such pain from the tight line and so tired from the beating sun, but he, "tried not to think but only to endure" (46). Because of this, he was able to catch the huge beast. This compliments his strong endurance in critical situations, yet another telltale sign of a code hero. This proves that when the going gets tough, Santiago can find a way to get it done. Every time Santiago goes against a large fish, he puts his life on the line in order to catch it. When he encountered a hungry shark on his voyage home, he knew he would have to do it again.

The thousand times that he had proved it meant nothing. Now he was proving it again. Each time was a new time and he never thought about the past when he was doing it. (66). Like a code hero, Santiago needs to continue to stare into the eyes of death and overcome it. Although he has done it before, he must constantly prove himself a hero and a survivor by doing this.

Part of the plot where Santiago thrives as a code hero is near the end when he is bombarded at night by four sharks. Armed with only a short knife, he somehow kills off all four man-eating beasts (109). These occurrences of endurance and courage cannot all be coincidence. Santiago is portrayed as a true code hero to definition..