Old Man And The Sea Paper

Independent Reading Essay

Did you ever read comic books as a kid? Did you have a favorite? Many comic books featured a hero like Superman or Spider-man. Often these heroes would possess super-natural skills or abilities, like the power to fly, or climb walls. They would use these powers to defeat evil villains and save the day. But, does a person have to have special powers to be a hero. To most people they don't. Society views many ordinary people as heroes for what they do as individuals and may view a person as a hero for how they have treated them personally.

In The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway Manolin views Santiago as a hero.

He feels this way because since he was five Santiago has taken him under his wings and taught him all he knew. He treated him as his son and in turn Manolin viewed Santiago as a father figure. Because of this father - son relationship Manolin looks up to Santiago and views him in a higher regard than the other fisherman. He views Santiago as a hero to him personally. This is shown when he pleads with Santiago to let him help prepare his boat even thought his parents have forced him to work for a different fisherman. This also shows that even though the rest of the community believes that time has passed Santiago by the boy is still faithful to him and believes that he is still a great fisherman and will catch another big fish.

Even though the community believes Santiago will not catch another fish some people seem to feel sorry for him. They feel like they owe him something because they remember when he was a great fisherman long ago. A time when they, like the little boy, also looked up to him and viewed him as a hero. This is shown when Martin (the shop owner) sends Manolin food to give to Santiago. When Manolin brings him the food he tells him that the owner put it on his tab. The owner doesn't ever