man s battle against life s significant challenges To catch the fish Santiago must go beyond his physical limit The marlin also represents Santiago s dream and human ambition The Sharks The sharks are a strong opposite to the marlin They stand for destruction and cruelty in nature They attack the marlin s body and destroy Santiago s success Yet Santiago fights them bravely and says A man can be destroyed but not defeated The sharks symbolize the blind forces in life death decay and failure Santiago kills many sharks but new ones come His struggle against them shows that man must keep fighting even when success is impossible The Mast The mast of Santiago s skiff symbolizes suffering faith and duty It is like the cross that Jesus carried to his crucifixion When Santiago carries the mast on his shoulders after his defeat he becomes a Christ-like figure The narrator says Then he shouldered the mast and started to climb His bleeding hands and tired body remind us of Christ s pain The mast shows that suffering is a part of human life and true greatness lies in accepting it Joe DiMaggio Joe DiMaggio the famous baseball player is another strong symbol For Santiago DiMaggio stands for courage skill and endurance He continues to play well though he suffers from pain Santiago thinks of him often and says It is silly not to hope DiMaggio s fighting spirit gives the old man strength during his most challenging moments He becomes Santiago s ideal a symbol of perfection and heroism Manolin The Boy Manolin the young boy symbolizes love loyalty and future hope He cares for Santiago brings him food and believes in his talent He says to the old man I caught two yesterday But we will fish together now This promise gives Santiago emotional strength The boy stands for new life and the continuation of the human spirit When Santiago dreams of the lions it connects to Manolin s youth and innocence Together the boy and the lions demonstrate that hope never dies even in the face of failure Through Manolin the writer shows that the older generation passes courage and wisdom to the young In conclusion Hemingway uses symbols to make a simple story deep and universal The marlin sharks mast DiMaggio and Manolin each stand for important parts of human life These are struggle loss faith inspiration and renewal These symbols together express Hemingway s idea that man may fail in body but not in spirit Through Santiago s journey we see that hope and courage can make defeat meaningful