The Old Man And The Sea Character Analysis

The Old Man and the Sea was written by Ernest Hemingway in 1952. The novel is about an old man who resides in a small fishing town in Cuba. The old man, Santiago, had hobbies including fishing and baseball. He took a young boy under his wing and taught him to fish. This boy was Manolin, the boy continued to help the old man and fish with him until the old man ran into some bad luck. One day when the old man was alone on the water he hooked a record setting marlin who began a fight that stretched multiple days. The old man tried to bring the fish in, however, sharks ate it before he had the chance. Once the old man returned to the village, he was on the brink of death, so everyone stepped into help. The Old Man and the Sea teaches lessons about loyalty in various ways by various people throughout the novella. These characters, like Manolin and Santiago, showed loyalty to other people, nature, and themselves. Manolin, a young boy from a small fishing town, showed the most loyalty to the old man, Santiago. The old man was the first to orient the boy with fishing, so he looked up to him as a father figure. Manolin aspired to be like Santiago. Santiago eventually entered a period of bad luck that lasted for 84 days. Manolin’s parents were adamant on the boy starting to fish with a boat who was having better luck. Even through this time, the boy checked on Santiago, helped him, and took care of him. This proved the boy’s loyalty because he was getting no reward from it, but