Santiago, the old man, is a version of what Hemingway views as a hero, he has most of the qualities that in Hemingway's view is needed to be a hero. Although Hemingway does not state that Santiago is a hero, he uses many different devices to portray him as a hero. Despite the fact that Santiago is essentially a `normal person' [he loves baseball, he likes beer, he is poor, lives in a shack and he is a Roman Catholic] by the end of the book he seems heroic in many ways.

One of the ways in which Hemingway portrays Santiago as a hero is by showing his persistence, endurance and determination. This is immediately shown in the book as Hemingway writes that Santiago had gone 85 days without catching a fish, but he was still going out to fish...