Strength in the Sea The American writer Napoleon Hill once said: "Strength and growth are achieved only through continuous effort and struggle." In particular, Ernest Hemingway's short novel, The Old Man and the Sea, is an allegorical story about the struggles and rewards of life. In this story, Santiago struggles a lot while at sea but in the end he emerges a strong man. On the surface the story appears to be about a man struggling to catch a giant marlin and struggling to protect the marlin from sharks. But Santiago ultimately learned to depend on his own abilities and maintain dignity, courage and integrity as he faced hardship, and this strengthened his relationships with others. Santiago had to rely on his own abilities to face life's challenges. A few hours after catching the fish, Santiago says, “I wish I had the boy. But you don't have a boyfriend, he thought. You only have yourself and you had better work” (Hemingway 51). He knows that missing the boy will not bring him any benefit and that the only way to return to shore safely is to concentrate on the tasks at hand....