Santiago's religion

I found the references to religion in the story to be very interesting. In the story, Santiago claims he is not a religious man, and this seems to hold true at first. Then he begins to pray as the fish he has caught causes more trouble for him. Every time he is in a rough situation dealing with trying to get the fish up to the boat or just keeping it on the line, Santiago promises to say prayers if he can keep the fish. At one point though he even states that he sometimes forgets parts of the prayers though. This seems to prove the fact that he is not really a religious person but raises the question of why would he pray in the fist place. History shows that a lot of times when people are in a rough situation or place in their lives, they may pray even though they do not really love or believe in God. It is strange though because the situation of Santiago isn’t really that bad. It isn’t life or death, and he would be alright if he didn’t catch the fish. Maybe he chooses to pray because he thinks that catching this fish will be the turn in his luck, but he needs to start with this fish first. He could also be simply thinking of how much the fish would be worth for his own gain, but this doesn’t really seem plausible because not once does he mention the pay that he will receive for bringing it in. He does mention how many people it could feed, but that is completely different and does not display any selfishness at all. One would think that praying in a situation like that would actually make a person religious, but Santiago believes he has no true relation with God. It wouldn’t really surprise me if Santiago has prayed before in similar situations though, which in my eyes would make him technically a religious person.

Born to fish

About halfway through the story I found a line that really seemed to personify Santiago as a character. It takes place after he was talking to himself about how other fisherman have radios on their boats to listen to the baseball games and he only talks to himself. He then tells himself he should not be thinking about baseball but rather his job. The quote is: “Now is the time to think of only one thing. That which I was born for.” The first part about thinking of only one thing really shows how motivated he is and focused he is on catching the fish after his streak of not having any luck. The second line really just characterizes Santiago. He was born and raised to be a fisherman and at this point in his life his experience and knowledge really shows this. Throughout the story, he continuously speaks about how he is a great fisherman and saying you are born for something just shows that you are confident and most likely actually good at whatever it happens to be. But again, it seems strange that he considers himself unlucky. Being born for something has nothing to do with luck. The entire concept of being born to do something is because of the fact that people have natural and God given talents at certain things. All professional athletes are talented at what they do, but you don’t see them after a game in an interview saying that they are just lucky. It’s almost as though Santiago has completely contradicted himself with his thoughts on being born to do something and how big of an impact luck has with the success of a profession. He seems confident in his abilities but also feels that he would be better of with luck. My thought is simply that if you believe you are born to do something, you better be pretty great at it and understand you have a talent.

Santiago's Luck

Throughout the story Santiago keeps mentioning how he is unlucky. This is the reason the boy is no longer allowed to work with him, because there are other fisherman who have been catching fish lately. With all of the expertise and experience that the old man has, it seems strange that he still believes that luck is the reason for his success being stopped in its tracks. I found one quote of Santiago to be quite interesting. He said, “Only I have no luck anymore. But who knows? Maybe today. Everyday is a new day. It is better to be lucky. But I would rather be exact. Then when luck comes you are ready.” The fact that he stated it is better to be lucky really made an impression on me upon reading this part. It is evident that he prefers to be exact and he most definitely is. During the story he speaks about how great he is, but this seems to differ that thought. One would think that at this point in his life and after all of his years of experience he would trust in his abilities, but the old man is still thinking that it is better to be lucky in the trade of fishing. Sure luck has something to do with it, but if there are people who do it for a living it seems like there would be a certain way to do it that comes with time and experience. I would not trust in luck if I had to go catch fish to pay the bills and keep myself alive. I would much rather have a good plan and know what I’m doing before I go out to fish. This is probably why this part of the book really stuck out to me. Because if you know you’re good at something, it seems reasonable to be confident in yourself and do that rather than just saying, “I wish I was luckier.”

First Impression of old man and the boy

After reading the first couple of pages of the Old Man and the Sea it is evident that the old man is a father figure to the boy. Though the boy has a family, he seems to like to be with the old man whether they are fishing or not. He states how he wants to be fishing with the old man even though they didn’t catch anything in the time that they spent working together. As a father would, the old man makes it clear that he wants what is best for the boy. He tells him he wants him to stay with the other boat because it is luckier. Even though the old man also likes working with the boy, he knows he is better off to work on the other boat. The boy talks to him about when they first started working together and how old he was. The old man tells him that he was only five the first time they went out and about how he was almost killed. The boy then tells him that he remembers everything about fishing with him. This shows how big of an impression the old man left on the boy simply from fishing with him. The old man also knows that the boy needs to stay with his family. He makes a remark about how if he were his own son he would take him gambling, but the boy needs to respect his father and his family. This really shows how much the old man cares for the boy. It is easy to see the respect for the old man from the boy because of his desire to help him work even though he doesn’t technically work for the old man. There is definitely a strong connection between these two characters. It will be interesting to see how the boy develops and changes through the course of the novel and how the relationship between these two changes.