have.

The open and positive nature of Santiagos character is clearly

reflected in his sportive challenge to the fish:
Come on and kill me. I do not care who kills who (OMAS, 92).
This is the loftiest realization one may aspire to have in the
struggle of life. This knowledge not only develops ones acceptance
of things, it brings in a tremendous feeling of detachment that acts
as a powerful antidote to do away with the fear of death and make
one really liberated. This knowledge precisely differentiates a
Santiago from a Nick Adams or a Frederic Henry. Even Robert
Jordan does not have this knowledge the way Santiago has it. This
explains the clarity and boldness that feature Santiagos assertion.
At a single point, however, Jordan closely anticipates Santiago
when he realizes:
Neither you nor this old man is anything, you are instruments
to do your duty (FWBT,43).
Another aspect which Santiagos personality reveals is his humility
that he acquires in the course of his ordeal on the sea. It grows as a
part of his increasing introspection, yet another mark of
improvement on Robert Jordan. First Santiago realizes it in the
context of the marlin: „Man is not much beside the great birds and
beasts“
Presently Santiago realizes that “It was not disgraceful and it
carried no loss of true pride” to have humility. The old man soon
acknowledges the human interdependence when he thinks:
„The boy keeps me alive, he thought. I must not deceive myself“
And from this humility comes his further realizations. Now the whole
perspective becomes clear to him. Besides the boy Manolin, he now
remembers all his good neighbors who must be worrying for him,
and he realizes “I live in a good town”. This shows his ultimate
identification with mankind. And it proves the inappropriateness of
Leo Gurkos comment that TOMS is the culmination of Hemingways
disengagement from the social world” In the end, when he reaches
his shack and the boy comes to him, he immediately realizes how
pleasant it was
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