pulls his boat and cuts his hands he does not stop His struggle shows the beauty of human will His courage and endurance make him a symbol of living strength Hope and Faith Hemingway also celebrates hope and faith in this novel Santiago s life is full of failure yet he never loses belief in himself He says It is silly not to hope His faith gives him power when the sea tests him most He dreams of lions symbols of youth and energy These dreams show that he still feels joy for life His faith in the future like the boy Manolin s return keeps hope alive in the human heart Love and Compassion Santiago s love and compassion make him a deeply human being He loves the sea the birds and the fish He calls the marlin his brother saying He is my brother But I must kill him His respect for the fish shows that his struggle is not born from hate but from need He feels sorry for the marlin and even for the sharks he kills This compassion proves that true humanity means feeling for all living things Pride and Dignity Santiago s pride gives meaning to his struggle He is not proud in a selfish way his pride is noble and clean He wants to prove his worth through honest effort He says I wish I could show him what sort of man I am This shows his desire to remain honorable in the boy s presence Even in defeat he keeps his head high His calm and silent pride reflects the dignity of the human race Man and Nature The novel also shows man s relation with nature Santiago loves the sea the birds and the fish He sees them as friends and equals Yet he must kill to live The narrator says The iridescent bubbles were beautiful but they were the falsest thing in the sea This means nature is both kind and cruel Santiago understands this truth He knows that the sea gives life but also takes it away In The Old Man and the Sea Hemingway celebrates the greatness of life and the human spirit Santiago s courage faith love pride and harmony with nature reveal man s noble side The novel shows that though man suffers and fails he can never be truly defeated Hemingway s message is clear He wants to say that life is worth living with hope courage and dignity until the very end