The Old Man and the Sea: Characters, or Lack There of

In the novel The Old Man and the Sea, there really are not very many characters. The entire novel is basically centered on Santiago. I do not think that the lack of characters is a bad thing though. It directs more focus to Santiago which lets the reader learn more about him and his emotions and feelings. However, there are a good number of supporting characters such as Manolin, Joe DiMaggio, the other fishermen in the village, and the marlin. None of these characters really play a major role, but they do influence Santiago in some way. For instance, Joe DiMaggio does not even show up, but Santiago idolizes him, and he thinks about him while on his fishing expedition a lot. He influences Santiago to be stronger physically and mentally. Another example would be the other fishermen in the village who heckle Santiago at the local terrace café. They only show up about twice in the whole novel, but they give Santiago the drive to venture out into the deep waters in the first place. Without these other fishermen, there would be no story. Hemingway’s use of few characters is a good thing in my book. I like the fact that the bulk of the focus is solely on Santiago. At times it may become a bit boring, but I truly understood the plight of Santiago. I would like this style of writing to happen in other stories too. Maybe it would be beneficial in such a book as Catch-22, but that is only my opinion. I think Hemingway wrote this book quite masterfully. His centered focus on Santiago adds to the depth and symbolism in the novel. He could have gotten caught up on describing the weather or the lowly village, but he decided to focus on the all important Santiago. I like this a lot because some stories can get very boring with a bunch of useless details, and Santiago is a great character to focus on.