How does Hemingway express man’s indomitable will in the character of Santiago?

Answer

How does Hemingway express man’s indomitable will in the character of Santiago? [2021] ✪✪✪

Or, “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” -Explain. [2020]

Or, Explain with reference to context: “But man is not made for defeat”, he said, “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” [2016]

Ernest Hemingway’s (1899-1961) novella “The Old Man and the Sea” (1952) presents this famous line that expresses his philosophy of life. It comes from Santiago, the old fisherman, who fights a giant marlin far into the sea. Though he loses the flesh of his catch, he keeps his spirit alive. 

Santiago shows his indomitable will through tireless endurance. He holds the fishing line for three long days, though his body bleeds and grows weak. He says with calm strength, 

“Fish, I’ll stay with you until I am dead.”

His body breaks, but his heart remains firm. The long battle becomes a symbol of life itself, which is painful but meaningful. 

The old man’s spirit remains undefeated even when his body grows weak. His eyes stay bright and full of courage. The narrator says,

“Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were cheerful and undefeated.”

To him, destruction means the loss of body, health, or possession, but defeat means loss of hope and faith. Santiago loses the marlin’s meat, but his pride and dignity survive.

Santiago’s pain is also a kind of sacrifice. His hands are cut, his back bends, and he carries his mast on his shoulders, as described: 

“Then he shouldered the mast and started to climb.”

Like Christ carrying His cross, Santiago bears his suffering silently and turns pain into peace. His strength comes from love, hope, and self-respect.

In the end, Santiago’s struggle becomes the story of every human being. Life can break the body, but not the soul. Hemingway shows that man’s greatness lies not in winning but in fighting bravely.