“Everything about him was old except his eyes and they were the same color as the sea and were cheerful and undefeated.”

The author introduces Santiago the fisherman as old, poor, and unlucky. But Hemingway also describes his eyes in a way that suggests bottomless reserves of spirit and good humor, even in the face of defeat. This is a man who faces challenges, even hopeless ones, with determination and bravado.

“He was too simple to wonder when he had attained humility. But he knew he had attained it and he knew it was not disgraceful and it carried no loss of true pride.”

The old man has experienced much in his long life. The shame of failing for weeks to catch a big fish to sell no longer haunts him. He knows luck can turn in both directions, and there is no one to blame. Mostly, he greets the vagaries of life as challenges rather than misfortunes.

“‘When I come back you can tell me about the baseball.’ ‘The Yankees cannot lose.’ ‘But I fear the Indians of Cleveland.’ ‘Have faith in the Yankees my son. Think of the great DiMaggio.’ ‘I fear both the Tigers of Detroit and the Indians of Cleveland.’ ‘Be careful or you will fear even the Reds of Cincinnati and the White Sox of Chicago.’”

This back-and-forth between the boy and Santiago is part of a long and affectionate tradition between them. Santiago loves baseball, and the boy worries about the teams, even those that do poorly, that might threaten Santiago’s beloved Yankees. The boy feels very protective of the old man; he wants no setback, not even a trifling loss in a baseball game, to trouble Santiago.