Hemingway uses pride as a source of power and motivation in his novel for both the marlin and Santiago. Pride is the reason Santiago fishes and the reason the fish fights. They both have much pride and swagger about them and they can not give in or they think that they will lose pride and much more including their lives. Santiago feels like he is prideful even though he does not catch many fish and all of the other villagers give him no credit for trying alone at his age. Catching this fish is what he was meant to do and fighting it was an honor for him which also effects his pride. If he had had an altercation with a smaller fish it would not make him feel as good as this great Marlin does.
Hemingway spends a good deal of time drawing connections between Santiago and his natural environment: the fish, birds, and stars are all his brothers or friends, he has the heart of a turtle, eats turtle eggs for strength, drinks shark liver oil for health, etc.(Hemingway, 98) Also, apparently contradictory elements are repeatedly shown as aspects of one unified whole: the sea is both kind and cruel, feminine and masculine, the Portuguese man of war is beautiful but deadly, the marlin is beautiful but strong, the mako shark is noble but cruel, etc. The novel's premise of unity helps succor Santiago in the midst of his great tragedy. For Santiago, success and failure are two equal facets of the same existence. They come together without affecting the underlying unity between himself and nature. As long as he focuses on this unity and sees himself as part of nature rather than as an external antagonist competing with it, he cannot be defeated by whatever misfortunes befall him.
The author understands that humans are determined to get done what they must to ensure survival. Santiago cut up his hands many times in this book and endured much pain for the sake of his pride and his lively hood in catching this fish. The author knows what the reader feels for him as he fights for survival and this fish and he knows that we want the old man to succeed at all of his ambitions.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner, 2003. Print.
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