Santiago

Santiago is the old fisherman of Ernest Hemmingway’s 1952 novel, The Old Man and the Sea, which was also made into a major film. The framework of the book is the old man’s battle with the great marlin, which takes place over three grueling days on the Gulf Coast. Santiago is aging and losing his knack at sea; his apprentice, Manolin, has gone to another fisherman. This is the epic last act, the final push to succeed, to master one’s environment, to return triumphant from the wars. Indeed, that is just what Santiago does, at great personal price, and it is probably his curtain call. Man and nature, man as an enduring survivor, grace under pressure – all are themes that underlie the story, but in the final analysis, Santiago is a good man and one to be emulated for his determination and forbearance.

Santiago is the unfortunate protagonist of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’ novella, Chronicle of a Death Foretold, published in 1981. His is the death foretold, at the hands of the avenging brothers of a spurned bride who has accused him of taking her virginity. Told in non-linear fashion from multiple points of view, the story unfolds as a parable of love, honor, betrayal and the often minimizing power of religion on our daily lives. While the villagers rush to the shore with gifts to greet the arrival of the Bishop, the brothers go about their murderous plans…at the end Santiago is killed without really understanding why, and the Bishop has passed by with no more than a blessing proffered from aboard ship. Santiago’s murder has usurped the Bishop’s visit, and no one is the better or worse for either.

Santiago is the Andalusia shepherd boy in Paolo Coelho’s hugely popular novel, The Alchemist, published in 1988. He dreams of a great treasure awaiting him in Egypt and embarks upon a metaphorical life journey to find it, encountering fantastical people and experiences along the way. The journey is one of growth in all ways, as Santiago learns of the nature of the world, the mystical unity that exists in the elements of life, and his own place in the vastness of it all. Inspiring and uplifting, the book is a major proponent of its own specific philosophy: “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”