Code Hero In Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man And The Sea

“He took all his pain and what was left of his strength and his long gone pride and put it against the fish’s agony […then] the fish was silvery and still and floated with the waves” (Hemingway 93, 94). The Old Man and the Sea was one of the last books written and published by Ernest Hemingway before he died. Many fans of the book wonder where Hemingway got his inspiration to write the story, and some believe it is based on his own life. The story is about an elderly, lonely, fisherman named Santiago who has not been successful lately, but goes above and beyond to prove he is still a great, skilled fisherman. Santiago and Hemingway’s life situations have certain resemblances, such as how they are both old and lonely, both working to accomplish …show more content…
Hemingway and Santiago are similar because of their code heros characteristics. Hemingway writes the Code Hero Laws of a man, but he also lives by them too. A code hero is very skilled as his work, dislike women, they are not religious, very manly and macho, and has courage and never cowers. Although Hemingway eventually committed suicide, he still proved he was a true code hero because he worked long and hard to write his success story, The Old Man and the Sea. Santiago is the true code hero of Hemingway’s story because even in his old age he never gives up and prevails over of the monstrous marlin. The fish gets hooked and continues to pull Santiago and his boat out to the open waters; he could have cut the line to avoid being lost at sea, but he did not give up his big catch (45). After a long battle, he finally kills the fish and starts for home; sharks attack the fish and take most of its meat leaving it mutilated. Santiago is upset for the loss, but still treads on because even the skeleton of the marlin will prove to the other fishermen that he was good enough to catch that immense creature and to kill the sharks preventing them from taking the whole fish (103). “‘You better be fearless and confident yourself, old man,’ he said[…]‘And pain does not matter to a man.’” (84). No matter how difficult and tiring a task may be, a code hero never shows metal suffering or even a chance of giving up because they battle through the toughest life situations to find glory on earth. The Old Man and the Sea is possible because of Ernest Hemingway’s drive and code hero lifestyle, in which he also instills in the character of Santiago, portraying his own life story within the