Santiago Symbolism

"Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and they were cheerful and undefeated." Santiago, the man described in the quotations prior, is a decrepit man abiding off the coast of Cuba, a bewitching island with a variety of animal life. One can say he was born into the life of a fisherman. Since he was young, he admired the ocean and the life it holds within. Throughout his numerous years living as a fisherman, he developed an extraordinary relationship with nature. Santiago has a boundless passion for marine life. Throughout the novel The Old Man and the Sea, this fondness is seen in multiple ways. The ocean, the fish, and all the creatures of the land and the sea are Santiago's family. In essence, …show more content…
He enjoys spending his time detached from the modern world with his greatest acquaintance, the ocean. This admiration he has for the ocean is seen in the way he portrays it. The tone he uses when he speaks of nature is one of adoration. In addition, Santiago enjoys to suppose that the ocean has human-like characteristics such as changes in mood, lovers, personality, and human dignity. Santiago, and those who love the sea, call her la mar (female pronoun). The feminism of the water symbolizes the respect that men should have towards women, and the sea. "The old man (Santiago) always thought of her as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favors, and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them. The moon affects her as it does a woman, he thought." On the other hand, the younger, inexperienced fishermen address it as el mar (masculine pronoun)."They spoke of her as a contestant or a place or even an enemy." Santiago believes this is a negative way of describing something that so marvelous. Lastly, Santiago not only depicts the ocean in this poetic form, but he also personifies the animals of the sea. He speaks to the animals, and respects them as if they were human.