"The Old Man and the Sea," was Ernest Hemingway's final full-length novel. The story takes place in the late 1940s in a fishing village near Havana Cuba. Santiago is an old man who has experienced great success being a fisherman, however as the story unfolds, this isn’t the case. His ‘bad luck’ reveals that Santiago’s character is perseverant, affectionate, meticulous and filled with pride. Not having a wife or child of his own, he embraced a younger boy in the village and his love for the sea. Santiago’s perseverance is evident throughout the novel and displayed especially in his dedication toward fishing. Although experiencing continuous bad luck, Santiago continues to go fishing. It hadn’t been a week but eight-five long days and he hadn’t caught one fish. Others probably would’ve given up or thought that man like him, who has experienced great success in his past would’ve quitted. However, under all circumstances Santiago’s perseverance shone. It hadn’t been the first time that he had experienced bad luck. “But remember how you went eighty-seven days without fish and then we caught big ones every day for three weeks.” The previous time, Santiago’s perseverance kept him going and it proved to be fruitful. It was clear that for Santiago, giving up wasn’t an option, no matter how long it took. “I could just drift, he thought, and sleep and put a bight of line around my toe to wake me. But today is eighty-five days and I should fish the day well.” Like anyone else, Santiago’s bad luck did cause him to have discouraging thoughts but being as perseverant as he was, it didn’t matter. He encouraged himself to remain focus. He knew that the chances of him catching a fish by simply relaxing and waiting for one to bite the bait were lower than him actually looking for a fish to catch. This motivated him. Quickly after thinking this, he was rewarded, because a fish began to tug on his line. However, his perseverance wasn’t only shown while he wasn’t catching any fish. “But he seems calm, he thought, and following his plan. But what is his plan, he thought. And what is mine? Mine I must improvise to his because of his great size. If he will jump I can kil