The Old Man and the Sea: Worthiness

              "The thousand times he had proved it mean nothing. Now he was proving it again. Each time was a new time and he never thought about the past when he was doing it" (Hemingway 66). In The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago feels he must prove himself to several people and things. The first thing he feels he must prove himself to is the boy, Manolin. He feels he must prove himself as a fisherman because he taught the boy everything he knows about fishing. He thinks that because of this he needs to prove to the boy he can still fish and the skills that he taught him as a boy were not useless and old techniques.  He does just that by catching the giant marlin and showing he can do things his way and be successful (Hemingway 119). Another thing he feels he must prove himself to is the other and his fellow fishermen. He is a rather old man as we learn throughout the novel and the other fishermen view him as just that. He feels he must prove that his ways of fishing do work and you do not need a large crew and boat to catch enough fish to provide for yourself and your family. In the end he does end up doing this. Once again he does not reach home with the fish, but the remains were enough. They knew he had been gone for a while, and were probably curious as to what he was doing, and when they saw the huge spine of the marlin, they grew their respect back for him (Hemingway). The final thing he felt he had to prove himself to has the marlin.  "I'll kill him....in all his greatness and glory. Although it is unjust. But I will show him what a man can do and what a man endures" (Hemingway 66). He feels he must show the marlin he can do anything just to kill him.

Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. Print.