The protagonist of the novella, Santiago is an elderly widowed Cuban fisherman whose "luck" seems to have run out—he hasn't caught anything in 84 days. Santiago is humble in his dealings with others, yet takes great pride in his work and himself, and is frustrated and embarrassed by his failures. He views his aging body as a kind of betrayer, and fondly remembers his younger days, when he was exceptionally strong and a successful fisherman. Other than fishing, Santiago's greatest joys are the time he spends with his former apprentice, Manolin, and the time he spends talking about baseball, and, in particular, his favorite player, the "great DiMaggio." Besides Manolin, Santiago considers his only friends to be the sea, the fish, and the stars. In his conquest over the marlin, Santiago exhibits exceptional determination and endurance in the face of physical and psychological pain. Although he loses the marlin to sharks, the entire struggle constitutes a spiritual triumph in which Santiago emerges as a Christ figure.
Santiago Quotes in The Old Man and the Sea
The The Old Man and the Sea quotes below are all either spoken by Santiago or refer to Santiago. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Day One
Quotes
Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated.
"There are many good fishermen and some great ones. But there is only you."
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He no longer dreamed of storms, nor of women, nor of great occurrences, nor of great fish, nor fights, nor contests of strength, nor of his wife. He only dreamed of places now and of the lions on the beach. They played like young cats in the dusk and he loved them as he loved the boy.
Day Two
Quotes
Why did they make birds so delicate and fine as those sea swallows when the ocean can be so cruel? She is kind and very beautiful. But she can be so cruel and it comes so suddenly and such birds that fly, dipping and hunting, with their small sad voices are made too delicately for the sea.
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Santiago (speaker)
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But the old man always thought of her as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favors, and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them. The moon affects her as it does a woman, he thought.
He is wonderful and strange and who knows how old he is, he thought. Never have I had such a strong fish nor one who acted so strangely... He cannot know that it is only one man against him, nor that it is an old man.
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Santiago (speaker)
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The Marlin
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Now we are joined together and have been since noon. And no one to help either of us.
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Santiago (speaker)
Related Symbols:
The Marlin
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Day Three
Quotes
"Fish, I love you and respect you very much. But I will kill you dead before this day ends."
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Santiago (speaker)
Related Symbols:
The Marlin
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The clouds were building up now for the trade wind and he looked ahead and saw a flight of wild ducks etching themselves against the sky over the water, then blurring, then etching again and he knew no man was ever alone on the sea.
"If I were him I would put in everything now and go until something broke. But, thank God, they are not as intelligent as we who kill them; although they are more noble and more able."
Related Characters:
Santiago (speaker)
Related Symbols:
The Marlin
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But I must have the confidence and I must be worthy of the great DiMaggio who does all things perfectly even with the pain of the bone spur in his heel.
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Santiago (speaker)
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"It is good that we do not have to try to kill the sun or the moon or the stars. It is enough to live on the sea and kill our true brothers."
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Santiago (speaker)
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Day Four
Quotes
You are killing me, fish, the old man thought. But you have a right to. Never have I seen a greater, or more beautiful, or a calmer or more noble thing than you, brother. Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who.
Related Characters:
Santiago (speaker)
Related Symbols:
The Marlin
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"God help me endure. I'll say a hundred Our Fathers and a hundred Hail Marys. But I cannot say them now."
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Santiago (speaker)
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Then the fish came alive, with his death in him, and rose high out of the water showing all his great length and width and all his power and his beauty. He seemed to hang in the air above the old man in the skiff. Then he fell into the water with a crash that sent spray over the old man and over all of the skiff.
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Santiago
Related Symbols:
The Marlin
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You did not kill the fish only to keep alive and to sell for food, he thought. You killed him for pride and because you are a fisherman. You loved him when he was alive and you loved him after. If you love him, it is not a sin to kill him. Or is it more?
Related Characters:
Santiago (speaker)
Related Symbols:
The Marlin
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"A man can be destroyed but not defeated."
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Santiago (speaker)
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He stopped for a moment and looked back and saw in the reflection from the street light the great tail of the fish standing up well behind the skiff's stern. He saw the white naked line of his backbone and the dark mass of the head…
Related Characters:
Santiago
Related Symbols:
The Marlin
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Get the entire The Old Man and the Sea LitChart as a printable PDF.
Santiago Character Timeline in The Old Man and the Sea
The timeline below shows where the character Santiago appears in The Old Man and the Sea. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Day One
Santiago is an elderly fisherman who has gone 84 days without catching a fish. For the...
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Santiago's face and hands are deeply scarred from so many years of handling fishing gear and...
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After Santiago's 84th unsuccessful day, Manolin once again helps him to bring in his skiff and gear....
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Manolin offers to buy Santiago a beer on the Terrace, a restaurant near the docks. The other fishermen at the...
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Over their beers, Santiago tells Manolin that he will be fishing far out in the sea the next day....
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After they finish the beer, Manolin helps Santiago carry his equipment up the road to Santiago's sparsely furnished shack. On the wall are...
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After going through the same dinner ritual they follow every night: Santiago offers Manolin some food, which Manolin declines because Santiago doesn't really have any food at...
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They then sit on the porch and read about baseball in the newspaper. Santiago tells Manolin he will have a good catch the next day, his 85th day without...
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Manolin leaves to get the sardines he promised Santiago. When he returns, it is dark and Santiago is asleep on the porch. Manolin covers...
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Manolin reminds himself to bring Santiago water, soap, and a towel, as well as a new shirt, jacket and shoes.
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Santiago then reminisces about his time as a youth on a ship that sailed to Africa,...
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Manolin breaks in to say that he thinks Santiago is the best fisherman. Santiago humbly disagrees, but acknowledges that although he is no longer...
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When Manolin leaves, Santiago wraps himself in the blanket and lies down on the newspapers that cover the springs...
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Day Two
When Santiago wakes the next morning, he goes up the road to Manolin's house to wake him,...
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Santiago drinks his coffee, thinking how he will not eat all day because eating has bored...
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Santiago rows over "the great well," where the ocean suddenly drops to 700 fathoms and where...
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Santiago thinks of the sea as "la mar," as a woman who can give or withhold...
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Santiago decides to fish past the deep wells, because he caught nothing in the wells the...
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Santiago sees a sea bird diving into the sea in the distance. He rows toward it,...
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In the late morning, one of Santiago's lines suddenly tightens and Santiago pulls in a silver, 10-pound tuna. He observes out loud...
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Around noon, Santiago feels a tentative pull on one of his lines. He thinks it must be a...
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The marlin starts to move away, pulling Santiago's skiff with it. The marlin pulls the skiff all day, as Santiago braces in his...
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When the sun goes down, Santiago wishes Manolin could see his big catch and help him drag the marlin out of...
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Santiago remembers when he and Manolin caught a female marlin, one of a pair. She fought...
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Day Three
Before daylight, something takes hold of one of Santiago's other baits, which are still in the water. Santiago quickly cuts all of his other...
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After Santiago cuts the other lines, the marlin makes a sudden, surging dive that pulls Santiago downward....
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The marlin continues to pull the boat to the northeast. Santiago senses that while the fish doesn't seem to be tiring, it is swimming at a...
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A warbler (small song bird) flying south lands on the marlin's line. Santiago talks to the bird, wondering why it is so tired. When he considers the hawks...
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As Santiago is talking to the bird, the marlin lurches again and the bird flies away. Santiago...
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As he tries to nurse his cramped hand, Santiago sees a flock of wild ducks in the sky and realizes that no man is...
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Santiago holds the line with both hands to keep the fish from breaking the line. He...
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Santiago has seen many fish over 1000 pounds and caught two fish of that size in...
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Although Santiago is not religious, he promises to say 10 Hail Marys and 10 Our Fathers if...
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Realizing it will be dark soon, Santiago decides to rebait a small line to catch some more food. He thinks about why...
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As the day approaches its end, Santiago wishes he could sleep and dream of the lions again. Then he wonders why the...
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Eventually Santiago's hand uncramps, but he feels tired. He hopes that the marlin also feels tired. If...
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To prop up his own confidence, Santiago remembers when, as a young man in Casablanca, he arm-wrestled a great "negro" who was...
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Just before dark, Santiago's small line is taken by a dolphinfish. He pulls the dolphinfish into the boat and...
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When it becomes completely dark, the stars come out. Santiago thinks of the stars as his friends. The marlin is also his friend, he thinks,...
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Santiago rests for two hours, after which he decides to eat the dolphinfish he caught. When...
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Finally Santiago falls asleep. He dreams at first of a vast school of mating porpoises leaping in...
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Day Four
The marlin suddenly surges, waking Santiago. In the darkness, he sees the marlin jump from the water, again and again. The...
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Desperate not to lose his strength from nausea, Santiago wipes the dolphinfish meat from his face. He examines his hands, which look almost like...
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As the sun rises, the marlin begins circling the skiff. Santiago now slowly fights the fish for line, pulling it closer to the boat inch by...
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As the marlin comes in closer, Santiago takes out his harpoon. He tries several times to harpoon the marlin, but misses, growing...
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Santiago estimates the marlin weighs about 1500 pounds, too big for Santiago to pull inside the...
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As he works, Santiago thinks about how much money the marlin will bring, then imagines how proud of him...
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Santiago begins sailing southwest, toward Cuba. He is hungry, and eats some tiny shrimp he finds...
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An hour after Santiago killed the marlin, a big Mako shark appears, having caught the scent of the marlin's...
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...flesh from the marlin. More blood now pours from the marlin into the water, which Santiago knows will only attract more sharks. It seems to Santiago that his battle with the...
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Santiago tries to remain hopeful. He considers it silly, or even sinful, to not be hopeful....
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Santiago leans over, strips off a piece of the marlin from where the shark bit it,...
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Two hours later, two shovel-nosed sharks approach. When he sees them, Santiago makes a noise that the narrator describes as a sound a man might make as...
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Santiago kills the sharks using a knife that he's lashed to an oar, but not before...
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A lone shovel-nose shark attacks. Santiago kills it with his knife, but loses the knife in the process. Two more sharks...
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When it finally gets dark, however, Santiago can't see Havana. He tells God he still owes him many prayers that he will...
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Around midnight, a pack of sharks attacks the skiff. Santiago uses all his strength to fight them off with his oar and club, and finally,...
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Santiago spits blood into the water and tells the sharks to dream that they ate a...
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It is still dark when Santiago sails into the harbor. The lights on the Terrace are out, and he knows everyone...
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Santiago removes the mast of his skiff and wraps the sail around it. He rests the...
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Day Five
Santiago is asleep when Manolin comes to his shack in the morning. Though relieved to see...
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Near the water, many fisherman have gathered to look at the marlin's skeleton attached to Santiago's skiff. They estimate its length at 18 feet. When they see Manolin, they ask him...
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When Santiago wakes up, Manolin is at his side with the coffee. Santiago tells Manolin to give...
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Manolin tells Santiago that the coast guard and search planes looked for him for days. Manolin then says...
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When Manolin returns to Santiago's shack, Santiago is sleeping, Manolin watches over Santiago as Santiago dreams of playing lions.
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