Santiago's Ambition

Improvement is a notion drilled into the heads of the human race. Whether it is a work, school, or anywhere else, people always try to best themselves. But when does the constant desire to strive to become better turn to out of control ambition? Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea and John Steinbeck’s The Pearl help show is that accepting one’s current situation is better than a constant desire for improvement, particularly when that desire turns into needless ambition.

Santiago from The Old Man and the Sea shows this needless ambition through the risks he put himself through to catch the fish of his dreams. After 84 days of not catching a fish, Santiago goes out to sea to find one. While he is successful in catching a huge marlin, the risks he went through to keep it were anything short of insane. After hooking the fish and realizing it would put up a great fight, he decided to still keep the fish on the line and rest that immense pressure on his back for several days, his suffering documented clearly within the story: “It encouraged him to talk because his back had stiffened in the night and it hurt truly

He is captivated by its beauty and lets himself be consumed by its promise of power. This is shown several times throughout the story. One example of his obsession with the pearl occurs when his brother suggests getting rid of the pearl, where Kino replied, “If I give it up, I will lose my soul” (Steinbeck 67). It truly shows how far gone Kino really is. Another example of Kino’s obsession with the pearl is when he beat Juana when she tried to throw the pearl back out to sea. Overall, the pearl’s illusion of grandeur combined with Kino’s obsession for a better life caused his strive for improvement to become out of control