The Arm Wrestling Match

While on the boat being pulled by the fish, Santiago has a lot of time to think. One of the things he thinks about is something that happened to him a while back. He remembers a time when he had an arm wrestling match down by the docks. He recalls that it was against the strongest man in the area, but he was also very strong. The two men were most likely the best there could possibly be. He says that people made bets on the match because it was supposed to be so good. He tells about how the match started and they both were going at it strong. They continued for hours and even through the night. The official didn’t want to call it a draw because of all of the money people had on it. In the morning Santiago’s opponent tried to make a move to win, but he started too early and Santiago still held him off. The man became tired from his efforts to finish it so Santiago saw his opportunity and ended the match. This story really symbolizes the entire novel. Santiago’s opponent is just like the fish, a worth adversary in both strength and endurance. In the end though, Santiago is able to become victorious with the fish as he did with the man in the arm wrestling match. He waits it out long enough so that each opponent becomes tired making one last attempt, and then Santiago makes his move. As Santiago thinks about this story he recalls that the man he faced was supposed to be stronger than him. Maybe it was Santiago’s experience that he knew when to make his move to bring himself out as the victorious one. This is the same thing that allowed him to catch the fish. This little story shows exactly how Santiago planed to catch the fish the entire time. This metaphor explains a lot about the story, but also simply about Santiago as a character.