ngway 66). The theme of human endurance occurs again during the shark attack. When he first realizes that his prize catch is about to be consumed by sharks, Santiago experiences a feeling of despair. However, Santiago heroically decides to keep fighting despite the odds which have been stacked against him. Thus, he concludes "a man can be destroyed but not defeated" (Hemingway 103).
In the course of his struggles, Santiago strengthens his resolve by thinking about his own vision of a hero, namely the baseball player Joe DiMaggio. DiMaggio is clearly a hero according to the Hemingway code because he returned to the game despite the fact that he "had been disabled for some time by a painful bone spur in his heel" (Lynn 569). In his time of crisis, DiMaggio serves as an idealized hero in
...