"Santiago displays all of the characteristics Hemingway's stoical hero is supposed to possess. He fights the attacking sharks not to save the remaining carcass of a marlin without commercial value, but as a sign of love and respect for his friend, he is able to maintain the fight with the marlin for several days; he respects the marlins fight to survive."
             Heroism: "Triumph over crushing adversity is the heart of heroism, and in order for Santiago the fisherman to be a heroic emblem for humankind, his tribulations must be monumental. Hemingway vision of heroism is Sisyphean, requiring continuous labor for quintessentially ephemeral ends. What the hero does is to face adversity with dignity and grace, hence Hemingway's Neo-Stoic emphasis on self-control and the other facets of his idea of manhood. What we achieve or fail at externally is not as significant to heroism as the comporting ourselves with inner nobility". As Santiago says, "[M]an is not made for defeat....A man can be destroyed but not defeated" (103).
             Grace under pressure and the Hemingway hero: Although less important in this novel than in his 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway maps out what it means to be a hero. Chiefly, the "Hemingway hero," as literary criticism frequently tags him, is a man of action who coolly exhibits "grace under pressure" while confronting death. Henry's narration is certainly detached and action-oriented - only rarely does he let us into his most private thoughts - and he displays remarkable cool when shooting the engineering sergeant. Characters in the novel strive for this grace under pressure in an otherwise chaotic world
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