Santiagos Pride example essay topic

One can describe a hero as someone who achieves greatness. The Old Man and the Sea, a novel by Ernest Hemingway, involves an old man named Santiago, who establishes himself as a great fisherman many times, but yet, he still struggles to prove it again and again. Santiago lives in a small fishing village off the coast of Havana, Cuba, and fishing is imperative to his survival. Although an immeasurable amount of skill is found in Santiago, eighty-four days passed without him hooking a single fish. Santiago refuses to give up. Santiago classifies as a Hemingway hero.

A Hemingway hero shows many qualities, including courage, skill, experience, pride, humility, and perseverance. Santiago qualifies as a Hemingway hero because of his courage, skill, and pride. The courageous acts of Santiago help establish his greatness. Everyone else would have given up when their spear broke while attacking a shark, but Santiago lashes out at the shark with his fists: When he saw the shark he leaned over the side and punched at him. He hit only meat and the hide was set hard and he barely got the knife in. The blow hurt not only his hands but his shoulder too.

But the shark came up fast with his head out and the old man hit him squarely in the center of his flat-topped head as his nose came out of the water and lay against the fish. The old man withdrew the blade and punched the shark in exactly in the same spot again... No the old man said and he drove the blade between the vertebrae and the brain. 1 Santiagos actions display his courage and his pride.

While attacking the sharks, he loses his harpoon, but, instead of giving up, he attaches his knife to the oar and uses that. When the knife breaks, he uses his club. As Santiago attacks the sharks with the club, the clu is plucked from his hands by a shark. In his fury, Santiago tears off the tiller and stabs the sharks with it. While defending the fish from the sharks, he shows pride. He shows his pride by attacking the sharks just so they will not eat his great fish.

Santiago risks his life to defend the fish he killed before. Santiago displays his hate for the sharks by attacking them without remorse. Equally important, as Santiago kills the second shark he says No When he says this Santiago wishes the sharks to know that he will never get the fish as long as he is able to defend it. He defends the fish with fearlessness because he believes the fish to be his brother so he does not want the shark to eat it. Santiagos intrepid displays of courage prove him to be a Hemingway hero. Not only does Santiagos courage help him to defend the fish, but his skill aids him in catching it.

Santiago skillfully shows his exactness: He looked down into the water and watched the lines that went straight down into the dark of the water. He kept them straighter than anyone did, so that at each level... of the stream there would be a bait waiting exactly where he wished it to be for any fish that swam there... drift with the current and sometimes they were at sixty fathoms when the fisherman thought they were at a hundred. But, he thought, I keep them with precision. Only I have no luck any more.

But who knows Maybe today. Every day is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready. (32) Hemingway tries to prove that precision is necessary to succeed in anything.

He gets the point across when Santiago catches the fish. Santiagos precision is shown many times, for instance, when he baits the hooks. He covers every single part of the hook with the bait so that the hook is not even visible. He also keeps the lines so straight that he always knows their exact depth. As a Hemingway hero, Santiago is precise and skilled at everything he does.

As well as his preciseness, Santiagos pride assists him in everything that he does. Pride is everything because if Santiago does not respect himself, he does not believe in himself, as a result, he would never succeed in anything. Too much pride can also lead to a downfall, but Santiagos pride is balanced out with humility: One sheet. Thats two dollars and a half. Who can we borrow that from Thats easy. I can always borrow two dollars and a half.

I think perhaps I can too. But I try not to borrow. First you borrow. Then you beg. (18) What are we eating Black beans and rice, fried bananas, and some stew. The boy had brought them in a two-decker metal container from the terrace...

Who gave this to you Martin, the owner. I must thank him. I thanked him already, the boy said. You dont need to thank him. (19) This passage represents Santiagos pride. If you look again, the quotation also makes you ask yourself if he has some humility mixed in with his pride.

Santiago has humility because he offers to thank Martin for the food, eventhough his pride would be hurt if he had to acknowledge to someone that he needed the help that was given. This excerpt also makes people realize that the boy is the protector of Santiagos pride. This is important because if Santiagos pride was hurt too much he might give up on himself so the boy has to protect Santiagos pride. Santiagos pride is perfectly balanced with humility, making him a genuine Hemingway hero. Santiagos endless courage, precise skill, and self-respecting pride prove him a true Hemingway hero. Santiago possesses courage great enough to get through any situation, skill great enough to be exact in anything that he does, and the pride any man half as honorable could double.

A Hemingway hero is someone very trustworthy, skillful, and caring, yet someone who will put greatness aside and be a good friend. Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company, 1952.