Santiago is the protagonist in both the novellas, Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez and The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. The celebrated stories by the two Nobel Laureates in Literature present two perspectives on man and life, described through the events that engulf the lead character in their stories, Santiago. The fate of the two Santiagos aptly captures the situation we face today.
Santiago is a wealthy ranch owner in Chronicle of a Death Foretold. Growing up he goes through a period of obsessive sexual relationship with an older woman that he is cured of only through the decisive intervention of his father. Losing his father in early adulthood, Santiago grows up to be a self-indulgent wealthy young man, who leads a carefree life with his mother, Plácida Linero, Victoria Guzmán, the cook, and Divina Flor, her adolescent daughter. Even at home he openly flirts with Divina Flor and molests her whenever an opportunity presents itself, away from the watchful eyes of Victoria. The town goes through three days of revelry that culminates in the wedding of a wealthy newcomer to the town, Bayardo San Román to Angela Vicario, daughter of a family of modest means. On discovering that his new wife was not a virgin, Bayardo returns Angela to her family in the early hours of the morning, the day after the wedding night. Angela is thrashed by her mother and forced to reveal the name of the violator of her chastity. She falsely names Santiago as the perpetrator. Incensed, her twin brothers Pedro and Pablo decide to avenge the family’s dishonor by killing Santiago at daybreak. The brothers declare their intention to all those present while drinking in the pre-dawn hours at the tavern before committing the act. Unknown to his mother, Santiago had left home early that morning to attend a gathering of townspeople at the pier to receive the Bishop who was passing by. By daybreak, the news about the impending attack on Santiago spreads through the town. Several townspeople attempt to warn Santiago, but a series of coincidences ensures that he remains unaware of the plot to kill him. On his way home from the gathering, he reaches his fiancée, Flor Miguel’s residence. Santiago is unable to comprehend the reason for her rage as she tells him, “Here you are,” “And I hope, they kill you!”. Nahir Miguel, Flor Miguel’s father talks to her and finds out the reason for her anger. Nahir Miguel informs Santiago about the plot and the reason why Pedro and Pablo want to kill him. From Santiago’s utter bewilderment, Nahir realizes that Santiago is innocent of the accusation made against him by Angela Vicario. Ignoring Nahir Miguel’s advice not to step out without a weapon, Santigo thoughtlessly rushes to his residence that is close by. Santiago reaches the door of his residence, expecting it to be open as he himself had walked out the door in the morning. To his utter surprise, he finds the door bolted from the inside. As he starts pounding on the door, Pedro and Pablo, who had followed him, reach and brutally stab him multiple times. The door had been bolted by Santiago’s mother, Plácida Linero after learning about the plot to kill her son, to prevent Pedro and Pablo from getting into the house, in the belief that Santiago was still asleep in his bedroom upstairs.
Santiago is an old fisherman in The Old Man and the Sea. An accomplished fisherman in his younger days, it has been eighty-four days since he caught a fish. The only person who keeps him company in the village is an adolescent boy, who as a five-year-old kid had made his first trip to the sea in Santiago’s fishing boat. Santiago had taught the boy everything from planning a fishing trip, navigating a boat, and hooking and reeling in a fish. The boy loved Santiago and took care of him in his sunset years. The boy’s father had made him leave Santiago’s boat and be with a ‘lucky’ boat. As they sit together in Santiago’s shack, the boy says, “But remember how we went eighty-seven days without fish and then caught big ones every day for three weeks”. “I know you did not leave because you doubted me”, says Santiago. “It was papa who made me leave. I am a boy and I must obey him”, says the boy. “He hasn’t much faith”, continues the boy. “But we have. Haven’t we?” says the old man. The boy helps the old man prepare for the eighty-fifth day – packs the bait, stores the food and water – and waves Santiago off with a cheery, “Good luck, old man”. Santiago decides to venture further into the gulf stream that day to catch a big one. Towards sundown, Santiago knows that deep in the ocean a fish has taken his bait. A tug-of-war begins between the fish and Santiago. He knows that he must play a waiting game for the fish to tire and come up. If he reels the fish in fast and hard, the string may break and he would lose the fish. The battle continues as his boat is dragged away into the ocean. As the sun rises the next day, Santiago realizes that the fish is showing no signs of tiring from having pulled the skiff the whole night. The brutal sun makes Santiago delirious. He starts talking to himself, and rations the food and water, but never wavers in his resolve to reel in the mighty fish. “But man is not made for defeat,” he says, “A man can be destroyed but not defeated.” As Santiago looks across the ocean he knows that he is all alone in the vast expanse with a tireless adversary. He admires the strength and determination of the fish he has caught. He knows that he must fight the mother of all battles of will. Just before twilight, he gets a glimpse of the fish as it surfaces briefly – the glistening deep blue of a huge marlin. He knows that the trail of blood would attract the sharks. He kills the first one with his harpoon. He kills several others, losing his harpoon in the process. He ties a knife to one of the oars and keeps fighting the sharks by stripping the marlin’s flesh. As the night dawns he knows that he would be able to do nothing to keep the sharks at bay. At daybreak, just the carcass of the fish remains, with its head and tail intact. He reaches the shore and heads straight to his shack to sleep off the tiredness from the epic battle. The fishermen measure the size of the fish – at fourteen feet it is by far the biggest fish ever caught in the village.
COVID-19 has proven a treacherous adversary. It has defied all attempts to define any pattern of attack or the outcome for those afflicted. It has struck down people who took every precaution – wearing masks, social distancing, boosting immunity and isolation, and helped by everyone around to fight the affliction. It has spared people who exposed themselves to enormous risks and who had no one to fall back on for help. The younger Santiago could not be saved despite attempts to save him by many. He should not have died in the circumstances he was in. And yet he was unable to avert death. The older Santiago should not have survived. He fought a battle unto death, all by himself, just to prove to himself that he was still as good as in his younger days. He survived to reach home with mere evidence of his prize catch. The outcome of COVID-19 infection is just like the fate of the two Santiagos. It never becomes clear why someone who ought not to die, dies and why someone who ought not to live, lives. In a mysterious way, it appears that the outcome is decided by which of the two Santigos is appended to a person’s fate.