Code Hero in Hemingway's Fiction

"Code Hero" in Hemingway's Fiction

A code hero is defined as a man’s man. He is the opposite of stereotypical hero, he lives a normal life. He is courageous and honourable. While he is the centre of many women’s attention, he does not see women as objects of pleasure. He lives life the right way and will not cooperate with evil. Finally, a code hero will face death bravely, but not only once. He must do it again and again, constantly proving himself. He is not afraid of death, but knows life after death does not exist. And here appears an important concept of Nada, which means “nothingness” in Spanish language. The typical Hemingway’s hero must always fight against the Nada and he must never give up trying to live as fully as possible. Hemingway made the code hero famous by including it in most of his major novels and short stories. Hemingway shows this hero through characterization and plot in such novel like The Old Man and The Sea and in short stories, which we have talked about, like The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber and In Another Country.

First of all I would like to discuss the topic of code hero in The Old Man and The Sea. It is a short, simple story about an old Cuban fisherman named Santiago who catches a huge fish after a long, patient fight. In this novel, Santiago is the code hero. Hemingway’s characterization of him expose this nature. When Santiago was out at sea on his skiff, he was longing for company. He thought to himself: “No one should be alone in their old age” (48). Santiago thinks this because as he ages, he knows he is getting closer to death every day. But as a typical code hero he is not afraid of death. After catching the fish, sharks come and eat it. The old man returns