In Ernest Hemingway's brilliant literary work, The Old Man and the Sea, Santiago finds himself confronted with a beauty of nature – a beast in the eyes of man. On the surface, transcending the task of killing the marlin is what makes Santiago a hero, but in retrospect, there is much more than just killing the brazen fish that defines Santiago's true role as a heroic icon. By overcoming his conflicts against the sea, its inhabitants, and even himself, Santiago proves that "a man can be destroyed but not defeated," and ultimately solidifies his place as a unique hero in literature (103). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay From the first line of the short story, a beaten tone is introduced and Santiago is confronted with his struggle with defeat. “He was an old man who fished alone in a boat in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days without catching a fish;” Instantly, the audience becomes aware of the first of many obstacles Santiago faces (9). Santiago claims to be free of any previous luck he might have had, and the novel's few background characters help to further express this opinion. His fellow fishermen pity him, and his companion on one side is even forced to abandon him because of his famous bad luck at sea. With all this against him, Santiago displays an interesting sense of confidence and gets up for a new day in sea, sailing even further than other fishermen. Hemingway clearly notes that despite these early adversities, “his eyes…were joyful and unconquered” (10). Establishing this sense of pride that Santiago has in himself is an important part of the opening portion of the short story, as Santiago's battle is often one of moral nobility rather than that of man versus nature as we may have originally thought so. This, combined with the deliberation of each small act performed and the simplicity of Hemingway's writing technique, helps to form a character easily recognizable as a hero. From there, Santiago isn't left at sea until long before he catches a fish; This is when the real battle begins. For the mysterious old man, fishing is as much a means of financing as a means of proving himself. He sees the sea, this realm of nature, as almost one with the realm of morality with which he struggles, and he compares the creatures he encounters to everything he has learned about life. These scenarios, combined with the up-and-down sequences that lead to the marlin's death, help to highlight many of the old man's heroic characteristics. Santiago often dwells on the value of the sea, but he also notes the curious fragility of nature. At one point, a small warbler comes to land on Santiago's fishing line. Reflecting on the bird's exhausted behavior, the old man accepts that nature is a place where predators and prey clash – a cycle that cannot be broken. Man's conquest has always been about breaking through this barrier of natural law, but as fragile beings, this task continually proves futile. The conflicts overcome throughout the journey ultimately add up to so much more. The sea, symbol of life itself, is something he loves and distrusts; he recognizes the force of the black waves that beat against him, but he wholeheartedly commits to enduring and overcoming their presence. By submitting to the inevitable, but nevertheless refusing to give in, Santiago demonstrates a great sense of nobility. To his list of heroic characteristics.