Old Man and the Sea Term Paper

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For Santiago, there is nothing that gives him more pleasure than baseball so he uses it to preserve himself and give him the strength he needs to survive one more day. He is not thinking about pleasing Christ when he refuses to resort to despair but his goal is a more earthly one. He wants to be able to make DiMaggio, his baseball hero, proud. Santiago is an ordinary fisherman and for him, a dream of DiMaggio is far more accessible than pleasing Christ. He just wants to be "worthy of the great DiMaggio, who does all things perfectly even with the pain of the bone spur in his heel" (68)

Similar in order to survive, Santiago keeps thinking about baseball. For example when the fish finally surfaces, it conjures up images of baseball in his mind as he muses: "his sword was as long as a baseball bat" (62) and as Santiago pulls the line "he used both of his hands in a swinging motion" (86).).

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Once he manages to harpoon the fish, he thinks of his baseball hero again "the great DiMaggio would be proud of me today. I had no bone spurs. But the hands and back hurt truly" (97).

Despite the numerous odds against him, Santiago couldn't surrender because that would have meant relinquishing his need to participate in life. He keeps fighting the odds knowing this was the only way he could possibly live his life even if there was no reward awaiting him at the end. The repetitive painful struggle that bears no fruit is what the old man's story was all about. But this according to Hemingway is man's destiny- a destiny he must fulfill regardless of the pain involved.

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