Santiago Hemingway's Uncommon Code Hero Ernest Hemmingway's Santiago in "The Old Man and the Sea" meticulously fits Hemmingway's hero code and accurately represents a hero classical tragedy proposed by Aristotle. Santiago, a skilled professional fisherman, is endowed with Hemmingway's heroic characteristics: humility, courage, perseverance, experience and pride. However, Hemmingway uses simplistic language, unusual settings, and tame characters to bring to life a tragic hero who does more than intrigue a diverse audience. In addition to describing the tragic flaw of excessive pride, Hemmingway emphasizes that the greatest value of life's conflicts is the lessons it teaches, and that enduring with determination and grace is a greater gain than simply focusing on winning. At the beginning of the novel, Santiago appears to be less than a hero. A hero is usually thought of as a great leader. However, at first glance Santiago is a disinherited old man, living in a shack who needs the help of a young boy. But this is a basic twist in Hemingway's plot that foreshadows his theme of heroism. Ironically, but more importantly for the plot of the story, Santiago is a respectable fisherman who has suffered an "unlucky blow". According to Dr. Wheeler, a characteristic of Hemingway's hero is to withstand the trials of life, competing with sincerity and determination despite the increasing level of difficulty (Dr. Wheeler's homepage 1). To fit Santiago into his hero code, Hemingway writes that Santiago is teased by other fishermen but is determined to prove that he can still catch big fish (Hemingway16). Santiago is a courageous and experienced fisherman, willing to go out into the open sea...... middle of paper ......197. Print.Burhans, Clinton S., Jr. “The Old Man and the Sea: Hemingway's Tragic Vision of the Man.” American Literature 31.4 (January 1960): 446-455. Rpt. in Criticism of short stories. Ed. Anna Sheets-Nesbitt. vol. 36. Detroit: Gale Group, 2000. Literary resources from Gale. Network. March 3, 2012.Davis, Carl. "An overview of The Old Man and the Sea, for exploring novels." Literary Resource Center. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Literary resources from Gale. Network. March 3, 2012 ByYanni, Robert, ed. Literature: reading fiction, poetry and theatre. 6th edition. New York: McGraw, 2008. Print.Hemingway, Ernest. The old man and the sea. New York: Scribner, 1952. PrintSophocles. Sophocles' Oedipus Rex: an English version by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. Ed. Robert Di Yanni. Literature: reading fiction, poetry and theatre. 6th edition. New York: McGraw, 2008. 1307-1347. Press.