A ridiculous comparison

After reading some criticisms on the novel it is evident that many believe that Santiago is meant to represent Christ. There is evidence to support this, but personally I do not believe this to be true. One thing that supports that he is a Christ figure is the damage done to his hands. The fishing line cuts through his hands while on the boat and he bleeds for a long period of time. Critics compare this to the damage done to Christ’s hands while he is crucified because of the nails through his hands. This to me just seems like an odd comparison since people get injured during their jobs all of the time. The next supporting piece of evidence is that after returning to shore, Santiago falls a couple of times as he is carrying the mast of the boat up a hill. He carries it across his shoulders and some say that it is meant to represent the cross that Jesus carried up the hill. I refuse to believe that this event has any relation to the crucifixion and the events leading up to it. These just seem to be events that replicate events during the life of Jesus Christ, but just coincidences nonetheless. I do not think that they have any direct relation to the story of the crucifixion at all. Santiago’s beliefs refute the possibility of any representation of Christ. He states that he is not a religious man and he rarely prays, so why would an author choose a character that is not religious to represent Christ himself. It all seems a little ridiculous to me. Although there are some events that seem to support this idea, I personally believe that Santiago’s character is not related or in any way a representation of Jesus Christ. This is simply the story of a man trying to catch a large fish, not a huge metaphor for the story of Jesus. It’s just a simply story. Nothing else.